Bega Valley’s Lead-Safe Circular Economy Proposal – LEAD Action News Vol 23 No 1

Landline - Bega's bid to become a circular economy to

reduce waste

[URL: First broadcast on Sunday 28 July 2024 on Landline on ABC (Australian Broadcasting

Commission) TV and later viewable (as part of the whole 57 minute episode) on ABC iView (via a free

account) at https://iview.abc.net.au/show/landline/series/2024 ;

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/RF2314Q024S00; later the 24 minute story was published on the

Landline YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MbjjIuy1wQ ]

Transcript with screenshots

Pip Courtney, Landline main presenter: Joscelin and Tom McMillan farm in the Bega

Valley. But they run their pasture raised egg operation on other people's land. The business

model was forced on them when they started out young and keen, but cash and land poor.

Joscelin McMillan: We didn't have a farm to go to, you know, we didn't have family land

that we could have used. It was the only way we could have got into it. And here we are, four

and a half years later. We’re doing pretty good now. Yeah.

Pip Courtney: The

couple move their

mobile chicken

coops wherever the

land owner wants,

providing free

fertiliser with zero

carbon footprint.

Tom McMillan:

He's very happy.

Yeah. It just

becomes more

productive at the

end of the day. It's just so you can grow more grass, just to put it really, really simply.

Joscelin McMillan: we were the last one into drought and the first one out of drought too.

So as soon as we got rain, it was green here. Whereas, you know, other farms around the

valley, it takes a little bit longer.

Pip Courtney: Their 5,000 hens turn off 3,500 eggs a day. And for two years they haven't

been able to meet demand. When they wanted to expand, their neighbour, Barry Irvin, Bega

Group's executive

chairman, found his

problem - an

embarrassingly weedy,

unproductive grazing

paddock, was the

McMillan’s free

solution.

Barry Irvin, Bega

Group: All right. Cool.

They've expanded their

business. We've got a

more, healthy soil, more

vigorously growing

plants. We haven't had to use chemicals to knock out the invasive weeds. And we haven't had

to use artificial

fertiliser to get the soil

where we wanted it to

go, so that, in that case,

that is a virtuous circle.

Pip Courtney: Barry

predicts he'll soon be

competing with other

dairy farmers who'll be

prepared to pay the

McMillans to park

their weed-eating soil-

renovating chickens on

their land.

Barry Ivrin: That will encourage more, more enterprise here. It'll be another reason to

establish itself here.

Pip Courtney: When farmland serves multiple uses for multiple users, it's called enterprise

stacking. To Barry, it's a small but perfect example of circularity.

Barry Irvin: It’s circularity but it's a virtuous circle where everybody wins. And that is from

an economic point of view, from an output point of view and from an environmental point of

view. The mountain ranges themselves….

Pip Courtney: Barry's been on a quest for circularity for several years. It was the view from

his veranda that convinced him the ideal place to trial circular economy principles was in the

Bega Valley. Bordered

on three sides by

mountains and one

side by 220km of

ocean, the natural

boundaries contain a

single council, airport

and port, and there

are just two roads in

and out.

Barry Irvin: We can

measure everything in

this valley. What we

should be doing if we were really having a go, is convert this valley to be entirely circular. We

could use this for proof of concept. We could actually prove things up really quickly. We could

also prove that things failed and didn't work really quickly. And then we could share that

knowledge because we've got to solve it.,, across the state, across the country and indeed

across the world.

Pip Courtney: Circularity appeared on Barry's radar when a Dutch banker warned him the

language around sustainability was old, and if Australia didn't adopt the practices of a circular

economy, it would fail to reach net zero goals.

Barry Irvin: In the Netherlands, the

target isn't net zero by 2050. It's to be a

fully circular economy by 2050. I'm

curious, so I said, I didn't actually know

what that meant, so I just said, tell me

more. It was probably a light bulb

moment for me.

Pip Courtney: The Netherlands is one

of the leading countries in the world to

begin moving from a linear economy

where goods are made, consumed and

disposed of into a circular one where

finite resources are recovered, recycled

and reused.

Lisa McLean: It's about keeping

materials in the economy for as long as

possible at their highest value. Designing

out waste and

pollution and then

regenerating natural

systems.

Pip Courtney:

Supply chains

traditionally go one

way and end in

landfill. Circularity

reverses supply

chains to recover

materials for reuse.

Lisa McLean is the

CEO of Circularity Australia.

Lisa McLean: If there's more gold and silver in a tonne of iPhones than a tonne of, ore from

a gold or silver mine, you can still be a miner, but you'll be mining it out of iPhones instead.

Governments around the world are moving towards a circular economy. The World Economic

Forum has embraced the World Circular Economy Forum. It's the only economic framework

we have to grow our economies in a resource and carbon constrained future. So it's actually all

we’ve got, we better make the most of it.

Pip Courtney: Lisa McClean says Australia won't reach net zero without going circular.

Lisa McLean: We

are focusing a lot,

which we need to

on cutting carbon

and that renewable

energy transition.

And that's great.

That's going to

manage about 45%,

55% of the

emissions we need

to cut. But the

remaining 45% is

what circular

economy is needed

for, because that's the embedded carbon. That's the carbon that is embodied in materials.

Pip Courtney: Circularity converts have a saying, that once you see it, you can't unsee it. As

it makes so much sense. Once Barry saw it, he was on board. But not just for his company,

Bega Group.

Barry Irvin:

Changing Bega

Cheese will be

nice, but it won't

shift the dial.

Changing the

Bega Valley will

begin to shift the

dial. Sharing what

we learn here with

everyone else and

saying here it is,

it's yours. Please

use it as you wish.

That will start to

shift the dial.

Pip Courtney:

Barry set up the

Bega Circular

Valley Project with

the goal of making

the shire

Australia's leading

circular economy

by 2030.

He's confident residents will see economic, environmental and social transformation.

Barry Irvin: Ten years - I would be going 30 to 50% is where we should be looking. Need to

be catching up to the types of targets that the Europeans have.

Kristy McBain, Bega’s former

Mayor: And great initiatives are

backed with action.

Pip Courtney: Bega's former

mayor says if anyone can make it

work, it's Barry who's known for his

drive, influence and connections.

Kristy McBain, Federal

Minister for Regional

Development,

Local Government

and Territories,

ALP Member for

Eden-Monaro:

They've got Rabobank

on board, KPMG,

Deloittes, Charles

Sturt University,

University of

Wollongong, the local

council, the state

government, the

federal government.

They've brought all of

these players to the table because we know that change happens in regional communities and

we don't want to let it happen to us. We want to be at the forefront of it.

Barry Irvin: If you think about the natural advantages this valley has, we shouldn't be

looking to be average. We should be looking to be better.

Pip Courtney: Barry's not known for being average. When the former banker and fifth

generation dairy farmer joined Bega Cheese in 1991, it was a small dairy co-op. Now it's a

listed company turning over more than $3 billion a year. Barry wants Bega Group to be

Australia's best corporate example of circularity.

Manjit Randhawa,

Bega Group

Environmental

Manager: As we were

extracting the milk

materials in the past

they were going down

the drain.

Pip Courtney: He’s

given environmental

manager Manjit

Randhawa a big job:

reduce emissions, water and power consumption and find valuable uses for waste.

Manjit Randhawa: But future projects, we are looking at all our organics turning into

biogas and on that growing some seaweed. And all these projects are alive projects due to

circularity.

Pip Courtney: His

latest success is this

evaporator, which

removes minerals from

liquid whey waste.

Manjit Randhawa:

This brings around

$3000 to $5000 tonne

to site. it's a it's a good,

good project to do and

to pay for them within,

within a year or so pay

for itself.

Pip Courtney: The Bega

Group's been circular

without realising it for

some time. This cheese

plant's boiler runs on

wood waste. It keeps

power bills down and

solved a sawmill’s

disposal problem. What's

left is fly ash.

Interviewer: So that's

all that's left after

burning? At what temperature?

Manjit Randhawa: This will be burning at 750 degrees in our furnace, in our burner,

creating steam for site.

Pip Courtney: Sending two tonnes a day to landfill costs the company $200,000 a year.

Now it's delivered free to dairy farmers as a lime replacement. And Wollongong University is

investigating if fly ash can cut CO2 emissions in cement production.

Barry Irvin: So,

you've got

everything from

mild cheese to

tasty to strong

and bitey...

Pip Courtney:

The easy projects

are done. Most

plastic and

cardboard

packaging is

recycled and

factory waste water is diverted to pasture next door.

Manjit Randhawa So they liberate around 1.2 million litres of wastewater. And that

wastewater is at this stage is beneficially reused to grow grass.

Pip Courtney: But as opportunities in the blue carbon world emerge, it's expected

wastewater will go to higher value uses like onshore seaweed farms.

Dr Pia Winberg says these farms producing ingredients for human and animal consumption

could use it all.

Dr Pia Winberg, Seaweed Scientist: We've already ironed out the whole process of

growing a unique

Australian green

seaweed. We've

done all the food

safety work, we've

even done clinical

studies. We know

how to dry it, we

know how to put it

into foods. And

yes, we've actually

achieved our first

export this week.

So we have the

system and now

we just need to make it bigger for Australia. It should be at least as big as 10% of the wheat

industry. It's got huge potential. seaweed is a massive crop in Asia and we are girt by sea in

Australia and really haven't scratched the surface of this opportunity.

It does create a new crop with so many more benefits and bringing nutrition from the sea into

the food chain. Things like omega three, iodine and that sort of thing that's missing. So yes, it

should be a part of our land to sea cycle of food.

Pip Courtney: The

launch of Bega's

Circularity Project has

marine scientists

buzzing. The increased

collaboration and

funding will stimulate

innovation.

Dr Pia Winberg: It's

really exciting when

you can actually herd

the cats and start to

communicate across

silos of both industry,

academia, government

and collectively say,

let's make this happen.

Prof Tim McCarthy:

Our blue carbon

researchers are

absolutely ecstatic to

get people

understanding what's

happening under the

water, and how that is

actually fundamental to

saving our planet. That's

going to be a huge benefit,

both for our researchers to

tell their stories, and for

the public to actually

understand what’s worth

investing in.

Pip Courtney: The goal

is for a coastline dotted

with new seaweed and

kelp rearing, growing and processing operations on and off shore, and while increasing local

wealth by creating jobs in new industries is a key goal of circularity. So too is habitat repair.

Prof Tim McCarthy: The regeneration of kelp is essential for creating habitat for marine

life. It also creates nutrients in the water that, make the ocean healthier. And we can actually

harvest quite a lot of that kelp to make useful products that make us healthier and make our

land healthier as well.

Pip Courtney: South Coast Sea Urchins is a textbook example of circularity.

William Brunker, Processing Manager, South Coast Sea Urchins: So they can

chomp straight through the stems of these massive kelp plants.

Pip Courtney: The roe of the invasive long spined sea urchin is a delicacy, so it's worth

paying divers to bring the environmental vandals in for processing. We can't overfish them. In

fact, we specifically target them because they are a pest. So, they're an endemic species, but

they're massively overpopulated, which means that they're killing all of the kelp and the

seagrasses, which

abalone and the

rock lobsters need to

grow in.

Pip Courtney:

More than 90% of

the pest is waste.

Once, the only

disposal option was

landfill, which cost

thousands in fees.

Someone saw some

value there though,

and now remove it

for free.

Interviewer: Will you be able to expand the business and get more of these spiky things out

of the ocean?

William Brunker: Yes, yes, the answer is yes, yes and yes, a massively scalable business.

We've got divers ready to go. We are setting up more and more infrastructure to enable us to

keep growing the business and the businesses which take our waste. They need more and

more by the day.

Pip Courtney: It's going into compost. Brothers Tim and Kyren Crane started their fish and

timber compost venture five years ago. The first company licensed by the New South Wales

EPA to use putrescent or rotting seafood.

Bega Valley

Shire Council

staff officer: I

can see in this

pile abalone,

mussels, oysters…

scallops, sea

urchins and some

fish.

Tim Crane,

Compost

Producer: Yeah.

We've got

abalone,

mussels…

Pip Courtney:

while small, last

year the business

saved 500 tonnes

of marine waste

from landfill. The

leftover shells are

being crushed

and trialed as a

lime substitute

for pasture.

Kyren Crane,

Compost Producer: Yeah, it's got a little bit more to mature yet, but, yeah, it's getting

pretty close.

Tim Crane: I'd say it might take us 5 or 6 weeks to do our pasteurisations, and then it'll be

ready to go to the next stage.

Pip Courtney: How many pasteurisations does it need?

Tim Crane: It needs five pasteurisations. It needs to be over 55 degrees for three days, five

times, pretty much.

Pip Courtney: The startup caught the eye of Pentarch Forestry. As well as supplying wood

waste. It's invested to help the business expand.

Stephen Dadd, Executive Director, Pentarch Forestry: Pip, we're thrilled to be part of

what the boys have done here. they've been working on this for years, and it's an absolute

showpiece for the

circular economy

here in the Bega

Valley. This could be

a mainstream, large,

scale business. And

that's why we're

investing in the

business in our

facility in Eden. We

will build a big shed,

a larger composting

area and, packing

line and also into

bulk delivery so we

can supply local and remote agricultural businesses as well. This is being tested now. So that's

right to go.

Pip Courtney: Tim can't believe the pointless and costly fate of such a potent fertiliser.

Tim Crane: We import a lot of stuff from overseas for our farms. Yet the best stuff we're

putting in the landfills. It's ridiculous. It's, you know, something's got to change. It's got to

change now. And we've had a really big bite of it and we've seen the potential of it.

Pip Courtney: The product is for home gardeners. But the Cranes are developing a dry

version that can be rehydrated for agriculture. Dairy farmer Toad Heffernan volunteered a

test paddock. He added water sprayed the fish tea and then watched his cows.

Toad Heffernan, Bega Valley dairy farmer: So obviously [cow moos] pardon me. So

obviously, the cows know exactly what they're eating. They know what they want better than

we do. and they actually moved across back on to where the fish tea was on the heavy dose.

Pip Courtney: He was surprised when sugar levels in his grass were higher hours after

spraying, and when a frost hit, the whole farm, he was astonished.

Toad Heffernan: The fish paddock that we'd done the trial on wasn't actually frozen, and I

was blown away. Maybe, you know, we can grow our kikuya or maybe 3 or 4 weeks longer into

winter and then maybe start it growing a bit earlier coming out of winter.

Pip Courtney: Toad's plan is to stop using artificial imported fertilisers and go local.

Toad Heffernan: And I think if we could literally stop all the cartage coming in here with

the trucks and everything, with the carbon footprint, and get our fertiliser from the coast, I

mean, minutes away, you know, that. That, to me, is golden. I think Barry's a very smart man,

and I think he's jumping on this, the circular economy thing, at the right time.

Pip Courtney: For Barry Irvin's plan to work across the Shire, he needed the biggest dealer

in waste, Council,

as an ally.

Running landfill

is expensive, so

council didn't

need much

convincing.

While 48% of the

region's waste

was recycled or

turned into

compost, 19,000

tonnes was

dumped here last

year.

Tim Cook, Waste Strategy Coordinator, Bega Valley Shire Council: and

unfortunately, that number is increasing every year and it's increasing larger than our

population growth. and so what that tells us is that our residents, our population here is per

person becoming

more wasteful. It cost

us $307 currently per

tonne to landfill. And

that economic value is

not productive. It

doesn't lead to

anything else. So it's,

it's a pretty awful

outcome that there

are things that have

value that are going in

there that people

think of as waste,

rather than thinking of them as a resource that can have a life, through some kind of circular

or reuse system.

Pip Courtney: Tim believes if residents and businesses are enthusiastic about circularity,

the percentage of waste to landfill can be cut from 52% to single digits. Council’s wide awake

to the treasure in its trash.

Tim Cook: This is full of, rare and precious metals. So there’ll be gold in this. There'll be

silver. You can see pretty obviously a lot of copper wiring around it. And then there'll be some

rare earths in here as well, and no doubt some cobalt.

Pip Courtney: Tim Cook

says e-waste in particular,

highlights how much

throwaway culture needs to

change.

Tim Cook: Even for high

value electronic items, we

buy it, we use it for a period

of time, even if it's still

serviceable, if it's considered

to be obsolete or obsolescent,

people want to get rid of it and get the newer, bigger, higher fidelity, and it's a real shame

because this is where it comes in. And it comes at a real cost to the community, to the

consumer as well, but something they seem for now to be happy with.

Pip Courtney: Council was an early adopter of the weekly Fogo Food and Organics

collection service. It saved 10,000 tonnes of methane-producing food scraps and garden waste

from landfill last

year. Council

compost the

Fogo, locals get

half, and the rest

goes to Municipal

gardens. Show

me what people

put in your Fogo

bins. The system

has just one flaw.

Some residents

are rubbish at

sorting rubbish.

Is it frustrating?

Tim Cook: Yeah. Yeah, it's incredibly frustrating.

Pip Courtney: Barry's dream is a carbon trading scheme rewarding emissions reduction and

nature conservation. And Council is leading the way. From three of its capped landfills,

methane is captured and burned off as CO2.

Tim Cook: Carbon dioxide is still a greenhouse gas, but methane is 28 times more potent, 28

times worse for the environment. And so we partner with a company that, has basically

installed that infrastructure, the carbon credit trading that they do, pays for that itself.

Pip Courtney: Bega's already home to a council and a range of businesses following some

circularity principles. It's a good place to start at the region's bold, Barry-driven experiment.

He thinks he's lit a fire that can't be put out. And the transformation coming the valley's way

will be noticed on the world stage.

Barry Irvin, Bega Group: I kind of want to make people jealous. I want I want to make

people come to the Bega Valley and go: “We should be like that. We should be doing that.”

Kristy McBain, Federal Member for Eden-Monaro: But here in Bega, we will be world

leaders.

Pip Courtney:

Late last year, the

regional circularity

co-operative was

launched and a

model of the

National Centre for

Circularity to be

built in Bega was

unveiled.

Promotional

video voiceover:

This is Australia's

national center for

circular discovery.

Pip Courtney: Bega Group kicked in $5million. The New South Wales government,

$14million.

Promotional video voiceover: Because now circularity has a home.

Pip Courtney: 40% of Australians have heard about circularity or circular economies, but

only 24% know what it actually means. The National Circularity Centre, to be built in front of

this beautiful lagoon, will be able to host schoolchildren, academics and staff from private and

government

organisations.

The goal is to

spark ideas,

encourage

collaboration and

increase literacy

about circularity.

Philip Cox,

architect:

Talking about

circularity and

circular

philosophy and

how to make this

into a building,

was very, very

difficult.

Pip Courtney:

Celebrated

architect Phillip

Cox built in an

end-of-life plan.

So, one day, all

the buildings

components will

be recycled.

Philip Cox: It's a very exciting space to be in.

Pip Courtney:

Set to open in two

years, Barry

wants it to

capture the

imagination of

not just Bega, but

people from all

over the globe.

Barry Irvin:

This sort of

running joke

now, the project a

few years old, is a

little like Hotel California, the fact that you can check out, you can change roles, you can move

to another country but you can’t leave this project.