The ACT government is to unveil new law to compel businesses to do more recycling. Its "Circular Economy Bill" will target food businesses, in particular, so they make their waste available for recycling rather than just throwing it out.
The Minister for Recycling and Waste Reduction Chris Steel said the bill to come this week would include "mandating" companies "making sure that businesses are separating different streams of waste."
He was concerned that "some businesses don't currently recycle so we're going to be requiring them to have a recycling collection and also making sure that, if they're a food business, a food collection system established".
The government would be making sure that such businesses were in touch with recycling companies like Goterra in Hume which uses maggots to eat food waste and turn it into feed for cattle. He also mentioned Capital Scraps which takes kitchen waste and turns it into compost for gardens.
Mr Steel didn't stipulate what the penalties for non-compliant restaurants and other food businesses might be if they don't comply. Details would come when the bill is presented this week.
But he said that the government would use all the levers it had to create a "circular economy" (one where waste is reprocessed for a new use).
Its levers, he said, included the planning system and procurement - the implication being that businesses which recycle would find it easier to get contracts from the government or planning approval. The ACT government would also be providing land to businesses which wanted to recycle more.
A new plant in the ACT to process organic material like food waste and garden greenery remained a priority. Mr Steel thought one would be up and running "around 2026".
There had been a delay in building one because of the Boxing Day fire in the plant for yellow top bin discarded items (like plastic and glass).
The Hume facility was completely destroyed when fire, believed to be sparked from overheated lithium-ion batteries, tore through it last year.
Getting that back up and running remained the top priority for the ACT government, the minister said.
"The absolute priority for the ACT government at the moment is building a new materials recycling facility since the fire," Mr Steel said.
"We need to be able to undertake basic recycling of the material in our yellow top bins," he said.
The organic waste facility "will come a little bit later because of what 's happened".
