CSIRO ’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | ii Contents

Introduction 5 The Opportunity 5 Principles for Circular Economy and innovation 6 Supply chains are global and hence the circular economy, sustainable materials management and needs to be a global undertaking as well 6 Solutions for reducing, diverting and designing out waste need be economically attractive and cannot overly rely on continuous government investment to correct market drivers 6 Achieving a circular economy requires a substantial transition away from the current linear economic system 7 The national innovation capacity for circular economy requires industry and manufacturing businesses in Australia to adopt innovation 7 Well-designed policy can create the incentives for industry, businesses and households to move towards sustainable consumption and production and reduced waste amounts 7 CSIRO Research Portfolio 8

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | iii

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | iv Introduction

CSIRO welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the House Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources’ inquiry into Australia's and Industries. As Australia’s national science agency, a key purpose for CSIRO is to provide robust science-based advice to governments on issues of national significance. CSIRO has a broad portfolio of research and expertise relevant to the issue of waste and is supporting activities in several areas including sustainable oceans initiatives and the recently announced Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement to develop a timetable to ban the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres and a strategy to build Australia’s capacity to generate high value recycled commodities domestically and associated demand for those commodities. CSIRO is committed to and has key capability that enables us to address critical national challenges. One of the key challenges of focus is on Ending Plastic Waste. We have set an ambitious goal of identifying and implementing the steps required to reduce 90% of plastic waste entering our oceans by 2025. Clearly, waste management and recycling industries have a significant role to play here. This submission provides a short summary of principles derived from scientific research about how innovation may assist governments and industry to address waste and recycling issues, in the context of a circular economy approach. We also provide examples of CSIRO’s research portfolio relevant to waste and recycling, which includes preliminary work carried out on the waste streams subject to the export ban as well as analysis of the drivers for innovation in the waste management sector using the principles of the 4Rs – Reduce, , Recycle, Redesign. CSIRO would be happy to provide further details about any aspect of the information in this submission or otherwise assist the Committee in its deliberations.

The Circular Economy Opportunity

Modern systems of production and consumption require large amounts of materials and energy and produce significant amounts of waste because of a dominance of linear economic relationships of take-make and dispose. Globally this has resulted in 90 billion tonnes of material- use in 2017 on track to around 190 billion tonnes by 2050 and a commensurate increase of waste disposal1. Australia occupies both ends of the global supply chain of materials as the largest materials exporter globally and with significant levels of final consumption and waste disposal2. The accumulating amounts of waste and the related public concern have been reflected in the National Waste Policy which now has a focus on creating a more circular economy that keeps

1 International Resource Panel 2019. Global Resources Outlook. Natural Resources for the Future We Want. United Nations Environment Program, Paris. 2 Schandl, H, West, J, Lu, Y, Baynes, T and Wang H 2019. Material Flow Accounts Australia. A comprehensive material flow account for the Australian economy. Report for the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Energy. CSIRO, Canberra.

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | 5 materials in circulation longer allowing for continuous value adding3. Circular economy opportunities exist at all stages of the supply chain from primary materials to commodities to waste and often focus on recycling opportunities of end of life waste. Circular economy, however, can go beyond recycling and can focus on redesigning materials, products and processes supported by new business models and in doing so creating much larger economic opportunities compared to recycling4. Redesigning industrial systems is a transformational task and requires research and development and investment in innovation to create the new opportunities that enable new businesses5. Circular economy is foremost an economic concept and may offer significant economic and business opportunities for Australian industries and for small and medium enterprises with considerable environmental co-benefits of reduced waste to landfill and avoiding the leakage of waste into terrestrial and marine environments and ecosystems.

Principles for Circular Economy and Waste innovation

There are several principles that can be summarised from the scientific literature on circular economy. These are relevant to all the waste streams mentioned in the Terms of Reference. A key theme of these principles is the need to consider the whole system and hence the development of integrated approaches.

Supply chains are global and hence the circular economy, sustainable materials management and waste minimisation needs to be a global undertaking as well

Like other high-income countries Australia is a destination for commodities and waste and not all end of life waste materials can be recovered and reused within Australia. Many OECD countries, therefore, have focussed on securing high-quality recyclate through sorting and value adding to the end of life waste to enable reuse in places where these materials are in demand whilst also assuming responsibility for reducing environmental harm and health risks being transferred to third countries. A circular economy strategy in Australia would ideally therefore include both domestic and foreign opportunities for reducing waste and for creating value from waste. Likewise, as a primary producer of key inputs into textile and food manufacturing, energy production and minerals processing, Australia has a role in minimising waste in destination markets.

Solutions for reducing, diverting and designing out waste need be economically attractive and cannot overly rely on continuous government investment to correct market drivers

Recycling and value adding to end of life waste does not always yield the economic return that justifies these practices. In many areas there are considerable financial advantages of investing

3 Commonwealth of Australia 2018. National Waste Policy. Less Waste, More Resources. Canberra. 4 Webster, K 2017. The Circular Economy. A Wealth of Flows. Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation Publishing, Isle of Wight. 5 Stahel, W 2019. The Circular Economy. A Users Guide. Routledge, London.

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | 6 into new materials, products and processes that may replace materials that have a low end of life value (This tend to drive a linear rather than circular system). Investing in innovation and the creation of new businesses in the circular economy offers significantly higher economic benefits and may also create export opportunities for Australian business. The existing stockpiles of waste need be addressed, however, and new capacity for creating valuable secondary materials from end of life waste would benefit from investment in new capacity and creating the necessary knowledge and skills. A revaluation of waste from both a supply and consumption perspective provides opportunities for innovation directly contributing to value creation across supply chains.

Achieving a circular economy requires a substantial transition away from the current linear economic system

There are many economically attractive opportunities for circular economy in the short term, and in the medium and long term investing in resource efficiency and waste minimisation are superior to business as usual. Opportunities in Australia exist in most sectors of the Australian economy. For example, CSIRO is investing into new approaches to , alternative plastics and natural fibres that have the versatility of synthetic fibres, and recycling food waste into new products. Additionally, opportunities for innovation platforms that bring together regulatory, economic and social transitions are also present.

The national innovation capacity for circular economy requires industry and manufacturing businesses in Australia to adopt innovation

The economic complexity of the Australian economy, that is the mix of commodities that we produce in Australia, has experienced a continuous decline over the past decades. This trend can be reversed through investment into the next wave of innovation in the bioeconomy and ensuring the digital economy underpins circular economy innovation. CSIRO has a role as an innovation catalyst in the Australian innovation system and can provide a platform for research and development in the circular economy space. For example, CSIRO is currently developing a roadmap for the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources for a circular economy of four waste streams – plastics, tyres, glass and paper – based on an extensive screening of technical and business opportunities and engagement with industry to identify those opportunities that are most viable in the Australian context. The transition of industries and economies on the basis of this innovation platform is also a key ingredient to impact. CSIRO is a trusted partner in forming transition pathways for innovation within Australia, as well as with international partner countries.

Well-designed policy can create the incentives for industry, businesses and households to move towards sustainable consumption and production and reduced waste amounts

CSIRO and international research show that policy matters for creating the conditions of industry and manufacturing growth and for supporting experimentation and innovation. The national waste policy and the action plan with their focus on circular economy provide a sound framework for new investment into waste innovation and circular economy and there are many examples in the food, housing, mobility, textile and packaging sectors of innovative approaches of reusing, redesigning, diverting and recycling that lead to reduced end of life waste going to landfill. It is expected that the new waste policy, the waste export ban and the measures that will be put in

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | 7 place to support the export plan will allow for significant innovation in waste management and circular economy. A good example of circular economy policy is the action plan of the European Commission which focusses on product design, the production process, the role of the consumer and waste management in one comprehensive framework and creating markets for secondary materials.6 The US EPA has a similar strategy of Sustainable Materials Management, which is a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles.7

CSIRO Research Portfolio

CSIRO has a broad portfolio of research and expertise relevant to the issue of waste and recycling. This includes activities on materials waste (e.g. waste management, mitigation and environmental impacts) for various sectors (e.g. energy, manufacturing, agriculture, food) as well as integrating cross-sector research to inform relevant policy such as material flow accounting and lifecycle analyses. Some examples of CSIRO’s work are: – CSIRO published the report ‘The Recycled Plastics Market: Global Analysis and Trends’ in 2017 (https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MF/Areas/Chemicals-and-fibres/plastic- recycling-analysis) which reviews and analyses the recycling industry in Australia and internationally. It provides a strong case for the development of innovative technologies that will help to improve the management and processing of plastic waste and improve global environmental outcomes. ASPIRE resource marketplace – CSIRO technology and innovation is behind ASPIRE, an online marketplace which intelligently matches businesses with potential remanufacturer, purchasers or recyclers of waste resources. (https://research.csiro.au/aspire/) Lithium battery recycling – CSIRO published the report 'Lithium battery recycling in Australia' (https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=csiro:EP181926&dsid=DS1) in April 2018 which showed that Australia could become a world leader in the re-use and recycling of lithium-ion batteries. Value recovery from printed circuit boards – CSIRO published a paper showing that pyrite could be used as a source of a leaching agent for extracting metals from printed circuit boards through biohydrometallurgy (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304386X14002692) and is currently further developing an integrated bio-hydrometallurgical process for value recovery from printed circuit boards. Phosphorus recovery – CSIRO has developed a biological approach to concentrate phosphorus from dilute wastewaters using phosphorus accumulating microbes to more concentrated streams, from which it would be feasible to recover phosphorus through precipitation e.g. as struvite to be used as a fertiliser. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135413006635)

6 European Commission 2015. Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy. Brussels. 7 United States Environmental Protection Agency (https://www.epa.gov/smm)

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | 8 Ocean plastic pollution – CSIRO conducts research to further the understanding, management and protection of coastal and marine ecosystems, whilst using scientific knowledge to empower community and governments to reduce litter entering our oceans. The overall goal of CSIRO’s research is to dramatically reduce plastic waste entering landfill and leaking into the environment, with an aspirational but achievable target: 90% reduction in plastic waste entering the ocean in the Australian region by 2025. This will involve taking a systems approach that brings together innovative science, policy and regulatory changes, industry investment and decision making, and behavioural change. Domestic successes would then be scaled up and applied globally through our international partners, leading to massive improvements in plastic waste management by 2030. Policy and market evaluation – CSIRO conducts science which provides critical information to local, state and federal governments regarding which policies, practices and activities lead to a reduction in waste leaking to the environment8. from mine – CSIRO has explored the opportunities for recovery of metal values from various mine wastes, such as tailings (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619312508?via%3Dihub), slags (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619312508?via%3Dihub), converter sludges (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304386X10000551) and pyritic ashes (https://www.scientific.net/SSP.262.147). Food waste innovation – It is estimated that one third of food is lost across supply chains. CSIRO has undertaken Australia’s most comprehensive study of food loss across horticulture value chains. Aligned with this initiative is the development of a method to return lost food-grade biomass into the food supply as value-added ingredients and food products by researchers from CSIRO's Food Innovation Centre. See: https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/AF/Areas/Food-manufacturing/Making-new-sustainable-foods/Mapping- horticultural-food-loss https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/AF/Areas/Food-manufacturing/Making-healthier-foods/Converting-food-waste- into-nutritious-ingredients Life cycle assessment – CSIRO has been working to develop an agricultural inventory for the Australian Life Cycle Inventory. These capabilities can now be accessed by Australian agricultural industries looking to demonstrate environmental credentials as well as identify inefficiencies. See: https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/AF/Areas/Sustainable-farming-systems/Life-cycle-assessments Textile waste innovation – CSIRO has active research in textile redesign through its Future Science Platform portfolio that includes a Novel Fibre Project using synthetic biology principles to generate

8 For example, see: Willis, K, BD Hardesty, J Vince and C Wilcox. 2019. The success of water refill stations on curbing the consumer demand of bottled water. Sustainability. 11, 5232; DOI:10.3390/su11195232 Willis, K, C Maureaud, C Wilcox and BD Hardesty. 2017. How successful are waste abatement campaigns and government policies at reducing plastic waste into the marine environment? Marine Policy. Schuyler, Q, BD Hardesty, TJ Lawson, K Opie and C Wilcox. 2018. Economic incentives reduce plastic inputs to the ocean, Marine Policy Willis, K., BD Hardesty, L Kriwoken and C Wilcox. 2017. Differentiating littering, urban runoff and marine transport as sources of marine debris in coastal and estuarine environments. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/srep44479.

CSIRO Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO Submission 19/690 | February 2020 | 9 plant based natural fibres that are still biodegradable and renewable, but which have the properties of man-made fibres. See either this video - https://cloudstor.aarnet.edu.au/plus/s/MTdZeKHsTTlmMGz or this article - https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2018/Next-generation-cotton-you-wont-have-to- iron Agricultural waste innovation – CSIRO has capability and also collaborates with the Australian university sector on agricultural crop waste innovation through circular economy principles including on as new chemical, mechanical and microbial technologies for separating plant tissues, e.g., bast fibres from hemp stems and valuable compounds from textile and crop residues, as well as a new Sustainable Textiles and Fibres Hub. Sustainable critical energy metals – CSIRO is currently formulating a major initiative to create a sustainable flow of critical energy metals to power the renewable energy economy. We want to work with partners to develop sustainable pathways for sourcing, processing and reusing the metals and minerals that go into solar PV, wind, battery, and electricity transmission technologies. We want to make these technologies more sustainable by improving metal use across their entire value chain – from mining, processing, design, manufacturing, all the way to recovery, reuse and recycling. Applying this more holistic, closed loop approach to our nascent critical metals industry will allow us to create larger economic opportunities for Australia by moving up the value chain, and will multiply the impact of our science on the global economy by: establishing new industries; creating export-ready technologies; and boosting strategic metal independence.