From the National Executive Officer

As I near the end of my role as National Executive Officer with the Australian Organics Recycling Industry (AORA) and reflect on the industry and the broader circular economy, I cannot help but feel a little cynical and frustrated (which is not normally how I like to feel). Let me try to explain.

The ambitions of the circular economy and intrinsically linked industries, including the Australian organics recycling industry, will not be achieved through government policies, regulations, parliamentary speeches, or wordy documents extolling virtues.These are strategies and guard rails supposedly designed to assist that ambition.

Actual achievement depends on industry – the small, medium and large enterprises that operate commercially to do what needs to be done while taking all the risk.

Governments take none of the risk; they proxy that risk to industry while simultaneously telling industry which risk levels are acceptable and which are not. Governments are not looking at the balance sheet, the workforce, trying to find new customers for the products or looking to see where capital investment might be beneficial and if the balance sheet can tolerate these decisions.

Often, Governments avoid investing money in an industry if they can, or, if the political risk is too high, they look at how to leverage that investment for their own political interest. Take for example, the Australian automotive industry: billions of taxpayer dollars invested over decades have resulted in a nonexistent local automotive industry today. Arguably not a great investment but equally, no surprise when you consider the economics and scale of our Australian car market.

The circular economy, which will provide substantial economic and environmental benefits, needs governments willing to work with industry – to understand the risks, to appreciate the economics, to consider the necessary investments, and most importantly, actually engage with and listen to industry – the enterprises who are actually doing the work and shouldering the risk to try and make the circular economy a reality.

Unless the partnership between governments and industry becomes truly reciprocal and cooperative with a shared vision and understanding, a successful circular economy may well be headed for the recycling bin with no one to collect it.

John McKew 

National Executive Officer

Nominate for the AORA Board of Directors

Directors help shape the strategy and goals of AORA and champion the organic recycling industry and the beneficial use of organic material.

We are seeking nominations from suitably qualified, experienced and passionate professionals in the organic recycling industry, particularly those who bring one or more of the following:

• Financial Acumen – strong financial literacy with experience overseeing budgets, financial performance, audit processes, or investment decision-making
• Governance – demonstrated experience in board governance, including accountability and strategic oversight
• Risk appetite & management – demonstrated experience in developing risk appetite and management.

We are also ideally seeking one Director from South Australia, to ensure all states are represented on the Board.

In this election, there are six vacancies on the Board of Directors as the following Directors’ terms will finish at the AGM, and all are eligible to renominate: Angus Johnston, Ash Johnston, Daniel Van Veen, Patrick Soars, Peter Thompson and Simon Humphris.

To be an AORA Director you must be a representative of a fully financial AORA Processing, National Processing, Associate, National Associate or Local Government/Government Member.

Nominations close at 5pm AEST on Thursday, 4 September 2026.

Contribute to the Industry Capacity Report

Each year the organics recycling industry is processing 7.7 million tonnes of waste to produce valuable product for further use across the Australian economy.

In doing so, the Australian Organics Recycling Industry is providing a considerable contribution to Australian economy enabling over 5,359 jobs, $421 million in wages, $2.4 billion in supply chain opportunities and $843.4 million in industry value add. In tandem to this fantastic contribution the industry is also activating considerable environmental benefits.

Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA) modelling has confirmed as impressive as this contribution is, it is only a fraction what could be achieved if Governments across Australia were able to lift the recycling rate of organic material.

However, this potential and considerable benefit, is not only contingent upon the right policy settings but also industry’s capacity to take up the opportunity. For example to achieve a 80 per cent recycling rate the industry would need to increase its processing capacity by 4.3 million tonnes each year.

Accordingly, AORA has commissioned this survey to ascertain the organic recycling industry’s existing and potential capacity to achieve this challenge. This survey will help establish the industry’s ability to step up as an economic, employment and environment provider of benefit.

AORA QLD Workshop with DETSI

Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Roadmap

Thursday 3 September | 10am – 12pm | Zoom

This online workshop is exclusively for AORA members on the development of the draft scope of works for the Statewide Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Roadmap.

Representatives from the Queensland Government Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling will be joining the session to facilitate discussions and seek stakeholder input on the project’s proposed scope and approach before a consultant is appointed.

This is an important opportunity for members to help shape the questions, priorities and outcomes that will guide development of the Roadmap.

The feedback collected through this workshop will help inform the consultant’s scope of work and ensure the perspectives of the members are considered from the outset. Once the consultant is engaged, there will be further opportunities to work with them directly and provide more detailed input.

The session will explore:

• Key challenges and opportunities facing Queensland’s waste and resource recovery sector.
• The issues and priorities that the Roadmap should address. 
• Data, evidence and analysis needs.
• How industry and stakeholders should be engaged throughout the project.
  
  

To participate in the workshop you will need to register prior to the time to attend. 

NSW Organics Processing Facility Guidelines

The new draft guidelines have been updated to reflect new technologies and practices and will provide the organics processing industry with an essential tool to enable a safer circular economy.

The draft guidelines outline best management practices in the construction and operation of an organics processing facility and incorporate current EPA operational requirements. Specifically, the guidelines:

• outline the regulatory framework that governs the development, approval and operation of organics processing facilities
• define the common environmental considerations that affect the design, operation and management of organics processing facilities
• identify performance measures for managing each key environmental consideration
• provide guidance on design and operation, based on a risk assessment framework
• identify the benchmarks that can be used for measuring and monitoring performance for each key environmental consideration.

The draft guidelines are now available for review and feedback. Local government, industry, NSW regulatory and consent authorities, planners, environment groups and the community are encouraged to review the draft guidelines and provide feedback.

Public consultation is open for 6 weeks until 5pm, Friday 2 October 2026. You can provide your feedback via the Have Your Say page.

Information session
To support you to provide feedback, NSW EPA will be hosting a 1-hour online information session to talk through the key updates to the guidelines.

Date: Wednesday 2 September 2026
Time: 2-3pm
Location: Online

AORA State Meetings and Committee Vacancies

Member meetings have recently been held in QLD, NSW and VIC. We have formed a new WA committee who will be meeting shortly, so watch this space for WA state meetings and we are in the process of developing a SA Committee.  

Please save the date for these upcoming meetings; 

• QLD | 24 September | 2pm
• VIC | 1 October | 11.30am 
• NSW | 8 October | 11.30am. 

We currently have a vacancy on the NSW Committee, if you would like to join, please contact Alex to discuss – compost@aora.org.au 

Update on NSW Biosolids RROE

AORA are holding a meeting for NSW processors and those involved with the NSW Biosolids working group next week to provide and update and formalise the next steps for consultation with the NSW EPA.  

This meeting will be held on Tuesday 1 September at 2pm and an invitation has been sent to those who attended the initial meetings.  If you would like to attend, please contact Alex for the calendar invite – compost@aora.org.au

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