AORA May 2023 Newsletter

From the National Executive Officer

There is a last-minute flurry of activity leading up to the AORA National Conference in Melbourne (7-9 June). If you have not registered yet, please do so as we have a great program of speakers locked away for what will be an informative and entertaining conference again in 2023.

Leading into the conference, the AORA Board will be meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday 6 June for a Board meeting and a strategic planning workshop. The current AORA Strategic Plan concludes this year and we need to start preparing for a new plan to take the Association and industry forward from 2024. This initial workshop will be the first collective opportunity for the Board to discuss/debate/identify key priorities and to begin the formulation of the new strategic plan.

As this plan is developed and fine-tuned, we will of course be communicating this back out to our membership, sponsors and stakeholders. Other key deliverables on the AORA radar are the fast-approaching end-of-financial year and associated financial reporting and annual audit.

A key focus for the Association will remain the building of our membership base and attracting new sponsors (Association priorities in perpetuity). Our industry is rapidly changing and developing and there has never been a better time to support your industry peak body and having an active voice in setting the direction of the Australian organics recycling industry.

Exciting and challenging times ahead for all of us and we look forward to seeing many of you at our National Conference in Melbourne next week.

John McKew

National Executive Officer

Australian Organics Recycling Association

Welcome to new AORA Members

AORA Conference is Next Week!

We are just one week away from the AORA Conference and are close to a sell out! If you are intending to join us but have not yet booked your tickets, do not delay!

Congratulations Chanuka!

A big congratulations to Chanuka Kelaniyangoda who is the successful recipient of the AORA - Komptech CEA Young Professionals Scholarship.

Chanuka outlined the great opportunity the conference would provide to broaden their knowledge in the circular economy and organic recycling. Chanuka is a technical assistant - organics at Repurpose It and is currently collaborating with a polytechnic Agricultural Science Honours student to investigate how well Repurpose It organic products are affecting the performance of different crop types.

Congratulations Chanuka!

Looking Ahead to the 2024 AORA Conference

We are already thinking ahead to 2024! The conference is locked in for 5 - 7 June 2024 in Queensland. Each year we develop a committee to help us plan this event. The committee will work on the following elements;

• Develop a conference theme and invite keynote speakers
• Develop program and select speakers from abstracts
• Source sponsors and partners
• Plan social events and demonstration day.
• Source exhibitors for trade show and demonstration day.

If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Alex - alex@aora.org.au or see her at the conference to discuss more.

The committee is likely to commence planning in August and the time commitment is approximately two hours per month. You do not need to be in the host state to be part of the committee.

Upcoming AORA Events

AORA Sydney Networking Breakfast

Wednesday 26 July

Crowne Plaza, Darling Harbour

Join us for breakfast before heading across to the Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo (AWRE 2023). This breakfast event is supported by the NSW EPA.

$80 inc GST (Members)

$100 inc GST (Non-Members)

Tickets are available now on the AORA Website

Speaker information to be announced shortly.

The popular AORA Organics Zone returns in 2023 at AWRE. AORA Members get access to an exclusive stand package which includes:

• 3m x 2m Shell Scheme (Octanorm frame)
• 1 x signage panel positioned in the middle of your stand
• 2 x chairs and 1 x table
• 1 x LED on arm and 1 x 4amp power outlet per stand.

Certified Compostable Products and Organics Recycling - Enabling a More Circular Economy

AORA Partner News

Certified compostable products such as caddy liners or waste bags and packaging such as fibre based or paper coated trays for FOGO are effective in the source separation of food waste from other wastes and the certification from the Australlasian Bioplastics Association ensures that the inherent property of biodegradation in commercial or home composts is in evidence.

Diversion of food waste using certified compostable caddy liners is a simple, hygienic and cost effective way of source separating food waste in the home or commercial premises and diverting same from landfill.

Similarly, certified compostable food packaging post-consumer is also an effective method of collecting food waste post-consumer and can substitute for packaging formats that are not reusable or recyclable post-consumer in certain applications.

The ABA verification program and our logos are a way of ensuring claims of compostability are substantiated and the requirements of the two Australian Standards, AS 4736 and AS 5810, for commercial and home composting respectively, have been met.

Diversion of food waste or organic waste to organics recycling such as composting brings many benefits and contributes greatly to a more Circular Economy in the biological cycle of such an economy.

Read more......

AORA at Waste 2023

Many AORA members congregated together earlier this month at Opal Cove in Coffs Harbour for Waste 2023. The theme this year was collaboration, and it was great to see so many discussions amongst industry about ways we can work together and across sectors to maximise resources within the circular economy and minimise “waste”.

The event kicked off with AORA’s pre-conference forum, “Why councils need to consider organics recycling as a manufacturing process” saw Patrick Soars (Australian Native Landscapes), Angus Johnson (BioCarbon Soil), Fiona Stock (Sutherland Shire Council), Amanda Kane (NSW EPA) Joley Vidau (ACT NoWaste) presenting their key insights on organics processing and take questions from attendees about their experiences and learnings. The key messages around limiting and managing contamination using a combination of policy, community participation and education, and prioritising product end quality were raised and it was great to see 69 registered attendees fly in a day earlier to participate in the forum. A big thankyou to our panel and also to our facilitator, Jennifer Hughes from Beatty Hughes & Associates for facilitating this interactive session.

Many of our members also gave presentations throughout the Conference, with many of these happening on the final day of conference. For those who registered for the event, don’t forget to check your emails for your unique log in passcode so that you can go back and watch any of the conference sessions that you may have missed. 

The AORA stand also had a productive conference with our new AORA multi tool (bottle opener, phone holder, ruler, screwdriver…is there anything it can’t do!) proving popular. If you missed out, make sure you grab one at the AORA Conference. 

Image: Mr & Mrs Green from Eaton Gorge Theatre Co at the AORA stand.



The MATS project is underway in Victoria

The partnership project called MATS (Market Acceleration Through Sampling), involving EPA Vic, Sustainability Vic, DEECA and AORA, is now moving to the stage of physical sample collection.

Twelve locations, encompassing variations in feedstocks and processing technologies, will be visited in late May / early June by the appointed Sampling Contractor (SMEC Group) for the documented but deidentified collection of processed organic materials. The samples will be despatched to up to five testing centres, each specialising in the identification and measurement of specific analytes.

The results, still carefully deidentified, will be consolidated and interpreted by EPA Vic during June and July with the expectation that the overall data can be released during August.



The overall aim is to attempt to identify emerging contaminants that may become significant in future if not subjected to early intervention through avoidance in feedstocks.

Of Interest