FEATURED TOPIC - ORGANICS
Maintaining the momentum PETER OLAH, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF AUSTRALIAN ORGANICS RECYCLING ASSOCIATION, LOOKS AHEAD TO WHAT HE SAYS WILL BE ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT YEARS.
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s we come to the end of a most interesting year, it is instructive to take a look back and important to look forward. The year 2021 has been economically and socially challenging for many Australians. Even more so than 2020, lockdown fatigue has worn down many of our friends and led to the destruction of many previously viable businesses. Few industries have found themselves exempt from these painful realities, but many would agree that the Australian organics recycling industry is among them. Our industry’s resilience is one reason for this, but so too are good luck and good timing. Lockdown has seen an increase in home cooking and
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gardening, leading to an increase in organics collections at kerbside. At the same time, demand for product has increased for several reasons, including government spending on major projects to boost the economy. Our industry has reaped the benefits and many organics recycling facilities are operating at record levels. For AORA as an industry association, the conditions have remained challenging. Our most obvious offerings – member events – have been curtailed through lockdowns and other restrictions. Despite this, in June we delivered the largest and most successful national conference our industry has ever seen. We have also rolled out a more comprehensive
program of member webinars. We intend to build on both these strengths over the coming year, even as we return to delivering a strong program of faceto-face events. Most importantly, we have worked hard to influence governments at all levels to change the rules of the game in favour of our industry. And the results are starting to show. Major policy and budgetary announcements have come from the Federal Government and several states, and we are starting to see a strategic alignment between the long-term goals of the three tiers of government and our industry in many places. It’s not consistent and not always as strong as we’d like, but the direction is right
