A submission to the review of the draft Tasmanian waste and resource recovery strategy

As one of only two certified carbon neutral Australian universities under the Commonwealth Climate Active program, the University of Tasmania is pleased to offer this submission to the review of the draft Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy (the Strategy). For over a decade, the University has been working to reduce waste to landfill and invest in circular economy and looks forward to working with the new Waste and Resource Recovery Board and broader community in its implementation. We do not view 'waste' management as a collection and disposal issue, and we support reframing this challenge to rethink and revalue materials. In fact, the linear waste model is a relatively recent narrative, within the last 70 years, and the circular economy model has been supported within and outside the University for far longer. Thus, this submission starts with an overview of our approach and includes many examples of University actions, including infrastructure, services, systems, and processes throughout the submission that may prove useful in further refinement of the Strategy.