17 May 2022
Today, most people, organisations and even countries conform to a linear economy. A linear economy works on the principle of making products out of raw materials which are thrown away after use. The circular economy is a new economic model that designs out waste and pollution, to benefit society, businesses, and the environment.
The circular economy is a worldwide opportunity, which can address 45 percent of global emissions that arise from the production and use of products and food. Some everyday circular examples include maintenance and repair on your lawnmower so it remains in use for as long as possible, buying clothes from a second-hand store, and composting!
In 2019, we begun to rummage through our waste and recycling habits. The results proved not to be a waste of time, with our 'Too Good to Waste' initiative (roadmap to divert 90 per cent of our overall waste from landfill through re-use, recycling or composting) awarded the Rethink Waste Tasmania’s Waste NoT Award in 2020!
This was a great start, but to make a bigger impact, we wanted to stop waste further upstream from our sites – with our suppliers, and our supplier’s suppliers, and our supplier’s supplier’s suppliers… you get the picture.
Maintenance of our assets is a huge part of our day-to-day, meaning we keep a lot of inventory on hand at our ‘stores’. Over a ten-month period between 2020 and 2021, 47,700 products were received at the stores. As you can expect, machine parts are delivered in layers and layers of packaging to keep them safe on their journeys to our power stations. Whilst this protects the quality of parts, it unfortunately causes a major source of waste. This is why the Gowrie Park store, in North West Tasmania, was chosen as the location for our first circular economy case study.
Finding the circular opportunity
The three major waste sources identified were cardboard and plastic packaging, pallets and paint-tins. With the help of Coreo, a circular economy consultancy, the crew were able to put circular opportunities into practice to divert more waste from landfill. These improvements (listed below) meant we could design out waste before it arrived on site, donate more materials to local community groups for re-use, and switch to different suppliers to increase value back to communities.
“It was a huge wakeup call for us to see the number of deliveries we were receiving each week, and the volume of single-use packaging that came with that” said Environmental Officer, Abbey Fancourt.
Head of Asset & Environment Strategy & Risk, Cameron McCulloch said it’s great to see how simple questions can achieve big impact in our supply chains. “Not only does investment in circular opportunities make good business sense, it provides more value back to Tasmania’s communities and environment,” said Cameron.
We’re embarking on another eight (yes eight!) initiatives to find more opportunities to circulate value. In March, the Coreo team visited Tasmania to check out more of our operations.
“It was absolutely inspiring to see the work of Hydro Tasmania and understand their potential as a force for circularity in the local and national economy” commented Coreo CEO, Ashleigh Morris.
“This year we’re diving into opportunities at a range of sites across the state, including some of our major asset upgrades and our offices. We hope to influence more change within our supply chains to reduce the impact of waste in Tasmania,” said Cameron.
To read more about our circular improvements at Gowrie Park, read Coreo's case study here.
Read our commenting guidelines
This is an amazing story of survival in the complex universe that exists in the fresh waterways we manage. It’s not to be confused with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which is a completely different story in a much larger universe. The two are similar only in that they contain important lessons about life, the universe and everything, so make yourself a solid cup of tea and don’t forget your towel.
As part of the Expedition of Discovery, TMAG scientists recently visited Musselroe Wind Farm looking for new and threatened species. The wind-swept sand dunes of Tasmania's North-East did not disappoint.
Anyone living in or around Launceston would be familiar with the flood of controversy surrounding the quality of water in the kanamaluka / Tamar estuary. But a new report has shown water