APR was privileged to host an Australian first memorandum of understanding signing ceremony (MOU) at our facility on Wednesday 18th September.
Led by the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) the event is the beginning of a circular procurement pilot project, with nine South Australian councils signing a commitment to purchase product made from recycled materials.
The participating councils are Adelaide Hills Council, City of Burnside, City of Charles Sturt, Mount Barker District Council, Rural City of Murray Bridge, City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, City of Onkaparinga, City of Port Adelaide Enfield, and City of Prospect.
The project launch marks a milestone for industries trying to create, innovate and manufacture products out of recycled materials, specifically plastic. For industries looking for opportunities, areas to develop or to expand into, the freshly created demand by today’s announcement for content buyback will drive innovation.
With today’s announcement we can finally turn the arrows around. Moving from a push to a pull-through circular economy will mean that the need for content buy-back will awaken a new industry. Demand will drive innovation. Demand will drive recycling. Demand will drive recovery and collection, and demand will drive responsible recycling behaviour.
For years the manufacturing industry in South Australia has been on a decline and with today’s pilot program announcement perhaps we can be known as the state that drives innovation by demand for our waste resources.
