Page 1743 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 June 2022
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queen”. I know that you, too, Mr Assistant Speaker, attended the Conservation Council dinner.
Professor Sahajwalla gave a great speech about her work in reducing and repurposing waste in the most creative ways. Textile waste was no exception, with Professor Sahajwalla and her team creating green ceramics. They combine repurposed textiles and glass, and these tiles look fabulous. We heard that some large development companies are already lined up, eager to incorporate them into new builds. It was a great night and a reminder of how much we can all do to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Ms Orr’s motion calls for the consideration of the benefits of establishing a textiles hub here in the ACT. This is something that many Canberrans would support. A textiles hub would support local designers and promote circular economy opportunities within the industry here in the ACT.
I commend Ms Orr’s motion, and thank her once again for bringing it to the Assembly today.
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee—Minister for Skills, Minister for Transport and City Services and Special Minister of State) (3.31): I rise today in support of Ms Orr’s motion on textile waste and the circular economy, and thank her for bringing this motion before the Assembly today.
The ACT government is deeply committed to reducing waste, maintaining the value of resources and supporting the transition to a circular economy in the ACT. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the ACT government is taking steps to reduce waste from textiles and to promote re-use and repurposing wherever and whenever possible.
While textiles make up a relatively small percentage of waste that is going into landfill, they are a waste stream which can, in nearly all circumstances, be diverted from it. The ACT waste feasibility study noted that in 2014-15 textile waste accounted for approximately 14,000 tonnes per annum of waste going into the territory’s landfill. The majority is made up of clothing and accessories, and leather, including shoes, with composite textiles such as tarps, carpets and underlay and composite products making up the remainder of textile waste.
Members of this place would know about the valuable resource that is the online Recyclopaedia, provided by the ACT government. The Recyclopaedia provides information on a range of options to re-use, repurpose and recycle products that contain textiles across the ACT. I encourage the community to use this resource to understand how they can take part in reducing their waste and seek to re-use or repurpose in the first instance. The Recyclopaedia identifies a raft of charities that accept quality items for resale and other options for Canberrans to drop off unusable textiles for recycling or repurposing.
As Ms Orr’s motion notes, Australians consume an average of 27 kilograms of new clothing every year and produce about 23 kilograms of clothing waste to landfill. This
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