Our Circular Economy goals are to help with decontaminating waste through Case Studies from our Pilots to prove systems and innovations that help change habits in the workplace which will then ripple out to the home, while creating new industries, jobs and entrepreneurship in our region.

Reef Catchments is the Natural Resource Management (NRM) organisation for the Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region. We facilitate change and work for long-term solutions to sustain, protect, and improve our region’s natural resources and environment, both now and into the future.

What is Circular Economy?
We think it’s important to recognise that circular economy initiatives fall under the ‘sustainability’ umbrella, but not all sustainability initiatives are circular.

For the purpose of the Queensland Circular Economy (Industry-Research) program, initiatives supported should fit within the Queensland Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy’s definition of the circular economy where: products and materials keep circulating within the economy at their highest value for as long as possible, through reuse, recycling, remanufacturing, delivering products as services, and sharing. Also for inclusion are initiatives which address avoiding the waste of products and materials.

In a practical sense that means the principal aim of initiatives or proposals will be around addressing waste and retaining value of materials and products; and any water and energy efficiency benefits will be seen as a bonus.

We are looking for those initiatives that will contribute to Queensland being a zero-waste society by reducing material and products going to landfill.

Gulf Savannah NRM is a natural resource management organisation delivering projects in Queensland's Northern Gulf region to support sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and healthy landscapes and waterways.

Organic waste makes up around half of what Queenslanders throw away each week in their kerbside waste (red lid) bin. Diverting organic material from landfill presents numerous environmental and economic benefits, ranging from significant landfill methane emissions reduction to the generation of a value-added product.

The Queensland Government supported Townsville City, Rockhampton Regional and Lockyer Valley Regional Councils to undertake the trials.

As part of the trial, each council provided an additional bin to a sample of households to test collection frequencies, equipment types and community engagement methods.

The trials successfully diverted hundreds of tonnes of organic waste from landfill. The information gathered from the trials is being used by the Queensland Government and councils to assess the suitably of ongoing FOGO collections in Queensland.

The trials were made possible due to the dedicated waste management teams in the local governments who have been on the ground every day ensuring that their communities embrace new ways of managing their waste.

Seeing waste as a resource and changing our LIFESTYLE is two important habits we can all do to help launch the Circular Economy in FNQ.

THIS CHANGE IS ACTUALLY BETTER FOR US AND BETTER FOR THE PLANET. It's full of opportunities including new industries that will develop effective ways of reusing our waste and the beauty of that is, it actually saves existing business models MONEY. Saving it and making it.

Our part in the piece of the puzzle is to connect the dots of passionate sustainable ambassadors in science, business and society to help us bring everyone along in a change that is good for the planet and good for the people.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally behind the USA & China. In Australia, we waste roughly 7.3 million tonnes of food costing over $20 billion per year. With 25% of all water used in agriculture going into food production, that’s one quarter of our usable water resource discarded. Another resource we cannot afford to abuse.

The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan guides how industry, government and the community work together to improve the quality of water flowing to the Great Barrier Reef. Although the current plan was originally to 2022, it does not expire and continues to remain in place until it is replaced by a new plan.

The plan builds on 15 years of efforts by governments at all levels working in partnership with landholders, natural resource managers, industry, research and conservation groups through successive Reef Water Quality Protection Plans.

It addresses all land-based sources of water pollution including run-off from urban, industrial and public lands; while recognising the majority of pollution comes from agricultural activities. It includes social, cultural and economic values for the first time.

Effective water infrastructure underpins the livelihoods of regional Australia and supports and sustains communities around the nation. It helps to grow the food, livestock and crops essential to our everyday living. It also generates jobs and injects billions of dollars into regions and the broader Australian economy each year.

Water is one of our most important resources and we must make sure it is sustainable, reliable, and resilient to drought and a changing climate.

Australia’s variable rainfall, streamflow and landscape conditions create water supply challenges. This, along with the demands of agriculture and growing urban populations, and climate change means we face frequent water challenges.

Our projects also help farmers access a more constant supply of water, which eases the pressure on our natural surface and ground water systems. This allows ecosystems that rely on these systems to flourish.