WAST E M ANAGEMENT
FINDING TREASURE IN TRASH: THE $7.8 BILLION OPPORTUNITY
IN AUSTRALIA’S RECYCLING AND
RESOURCE RECOVERY SECTOR By Mac Irvine, Waste and Bioenergy Lead, Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Australia’s recycling and resource recovery sector is undergoing major transformation, driven by global market pressures. A new Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) report has identified an upside to this upheaval: a potential investment pipeline worth billions of dollars. 96
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eveloped by the CEFC with global engineering and consultancy leader Arup, Energising resource recovery: the Australian opportunity analyses the role of the sector in Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy. It found scope for significant growth, estimating the sector has the potential to reduce landfill emissions by as much as 60 per cent based on current forecasts and help abate more than 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane emissions from landfill every year. In addition to these important environmental outcomes, a thriving waste recovery sector can deliver substantial economic benefits. New and expanded infrastructure for these projects in Australia could generate between $4 billion and $7.8 billion in new investments in the period up to 2025, creating up to 9,000 construction jobs, 2,600 indirect jobs and as many as 1,400 direct and ongoing jobs across Australia.
UTILITY • AUGUST 2021
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