Enabling the circular economy transition, Australia

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Circularity will mean a better economy for all

Making the shift to a circular economy will be complex and challenging. However, the reward – a global society where people, business operation, nature and economies can all thrive – is worth the effort. It will take collaboration, partnerships, and policies that drive action.

Governments help create enabling environments for industry to implement change at scale. By setting legislative agendas and developing strategic programmes, governments can guide demand for circular products and influence the way companies operate. From a business perspective, understanding the policy landscape and lessons learned can help innovate, compete, and avoid risk.

Aurecon is playing a defining role in the circular economy transition, progressing public-private collaboration to achieve collective goals that might not otherwise be possible for individual entities to accomplish alone. We’re empowering organisations, and local and regional authorities, to build their vision of circularity based on common targets and objectives.

Location

Australia

Client

Multiple

Partners

Multiple

Aurecon's Role

Aurecon helps governments work with industry to enable the circular economy and sustainability and climate change

Expertise

Circular Economy, Sustainability & Climate Change

Status

Ongoing

Transitioning towards a circular economy

When working with organisations, Aurecon’s application of circular economy principles follows:

Designing out waste from systems at the very beginning of a process or project
Retaining assets, products and materials at their highest value for the longest possible time
Reducing negative impacts by regenerating nature with cleaner air or waterways, returning nutrients to soils, and extracting carbon from the atmosphere

Aurecon is leading numerous projects helping governments work with industry to enable the circular economy in their jurisdictions through planning and strategy, circular scan and measurement, capability building, policy and regulation changes.

Learn more about Aurecon's work towards a circular economy below.

ACT circular economy draft action plan co-design with local stakeholders.

Strategy and policy development

Aurecon worked closely with NoWaste to consult and engage with government and industry representatives to explore circular economy actions for the ACT region.

There were 5 workshops designed and facilitated by Aurecon, involving 120 stakeholders from more than 70 different organisations. Together, the groups were able to co-design a draft of the first ever ACT circular economy action plan.

It will be considered by the ACT Government in its shift to a circular economy and initiate collaborations with stakeholders as part of a regional ecosystem of circularity.

Aurecon worked with City of Adelaide to identify and articulate opportunities to optimise how the city manages waste and recycling for residents and businesses.

Our investigations included scanning international best practice, engaging with senior leaders and delivery teams, reviewing multiple levels of policy, and analysing spatial constraints to service delivery.

The areas for improvement that were identified covered food waste, new technologies to recover waste, and alternative service deliver models. The intention of the recommendations is to help the city prioritise resource recovery and implement circular economy initiatives in the future.

Precinct development

Aurecon completed a comprehensive review of applicable macro trends for circular economy and identified key opportunities for implementation in Sydney’s Western Parkland City. This included a detailed study of circular potential for market sectors including food systems, manufacturing, built environment, infrastructure, and clean energy technology.

A comprehensive evaluation was undertaken for each sector concerning its economic importance to Parkland City and its potential for implementing circular design strategies. For instance, the design phase of the built environment emerged as a key point for unlocking circular opportunitiesgiven its substantial influence on the complete lifecycle of materials, products and systems.

Further, the manufacturing sector was found to have a significant presence in the project area as it contributes to an economic output of up to $34 billion annually. To foster circular adoption in manufacturing, Aurecon explored pathways such as research and design collaboration, supply chain integration, and government funding initiatives.

The outcome of this project was a set of strategic priorities and actions for our client to enable circular economy adoption. Recommendations were mapped to a sphere of control, influence, and interest, as a guide for progress on the development pathway of each identified initiative.

Aurecon collaborated with the City of Melbourne to support the design and development of a circular economy precinct to trial and implement innovative models of sharing, repairing, reusing, refurbishing and recycling materials through local business supply chains.

The project focused on identifying a suitable precinct location, analysing material flows to this location, and determining approaches to be able to divert materials from going to landfill.

The precinct concept design was informed by insights gathered during consultation and engagement with local retail, hospitality and commercial businesses, and community organisations. Aurecon also researched and designed a best practice framework and tools, and conducted detailed cost benefit analysis, to provide initiative recommendations that may support the implementation of the circular economy precinct. These were used to address potential barriers and challenges with the participating stakeholders.

Circular scanning

Aurecon worked with Lifecycles to quantify the greenhouse gas abatement potential of different circular design interventions across buildings, infrastructure and precincts in New South Wales. This work provides an important evidence base to clearly link circular design strategies to carbon emission outcomes.

Aurecon’s circular economy and infrastructure teams worked hand in hand, and in consultation with construction experts, to test modelling assumptions and gather insights on the current and future market barriers for mainstreaming circular design on the ground. The report also provides an outline of how the NSW Government can leverage its influence to promote circular approaches and practices in construction.

Results highlighted the significant abatement potential of re-using existing assets and materials, as well as strategies such as designing to maximise circularity and enable disassembly and selecting low-impact materials.

Capacity building

Aurecon and Rawtec conducted a masterclass with Green Industries SA and Procurement Services SA to introduce and align understanding of circular economy principles in public procurement. This was achieved by showcasing experts, tools and resources that can support procurement efforts. The two-hour online training was designed for SA state government agency procurement professionals and practitioners.

It attracted more than 100 participants from economic development, procurement, infrastructure, transport, health, and education portfolios. The project recorded eight video interviews with local leaders to share lessons from those who have already begun integrating circular principles into their procurement processes or business models.

These are now available through Procurement Services SA’s internal Capability Development Portal for public sector staff, as well as the Green Industries SA circular procurement knowledge hub, with the associated tools, guidelines and case studies designed to help procurement practitioners incorporate circular principles and achieve sustainability goals.

Aurecon designed and delivered an immersive and practical systems thinking training for more than 20 policy makers and programme leaders across government in New South Wales. Combining theory, tangible examples and practical application, participants worked on relevant real-life challenges focusing on circular economy, climate adaptation, hydrogen, renewable energy, and clean energy technologies, to explore a range of systems thinking tools in their own context. Highly engaging, interactive and contextual, the 1.5-day training and supplementary self-paced activities were delivered together with a 4-week peer-to-peer coaching framework.

Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) appointed Aurecon to develop a circular fit-out toolkit for commercial buildings. In collaboration with the BBP and Green Building Council of Australia, Aurecon hosted a highly engaging symposium with more than 60 industry leaders to uncover opportunities and barriers and explore the tools and interventions required to shift towards circular office fit-outs at scale.

We are now co-designing a toolkit to become available to industry as a guide for procuring materials and equipment for fit-outs, in line with circular economy principles the new Australian Green Star Fit-outs rating tool.

Circularity will mean a better economy for all