The group meets monthly. Meetings are open to anyone with an interest in our activities. See “Next Meeting” under “Events” heading below for next meeting.
Meetings
One of our initial priorities is to gain a better understanding of the many great initiatives already underway in the Illawarra. In 2023 Circular Plastics Illawarra organised two tours of Shoalhaven City Council’s plastics recycling facility in West Nowra. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is granulated, melted into blocks and sold to a recycler. Soft plastics including textiles are mixed with glass fines to manufacture into tiles and other products in the MICROfactorie™. Read more.
Industry engagement
We are actively engaging with governments and elected officials at a local, state and federal level to advocate for policies and initiatives that support a circular economy for plastics. Examples include:
Submission to NSW EPA The Way Forward Consultation Paper Draft (November 2024). View Submission.
Submission to DCCEEW (national) on proposed packaging reforms. (October 2024). View Submission.
Meeting with Stephen Jones, Federal Member for Whitlam (August 2024). Read more.
Submission to Wollongong City Council on Wollongong Council’s Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2024 - 2034 Draft on 15th July 2024. View Submission.
Submission to the NSW EPA Next Steps paper on single use plastics (February 2024). Read more.
Submission to Wollongong City Council on the draft Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023 -2030 (Oct 2023). Read more.
Letter to the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water proposing a national ban on EPS waffle pods (July 2023). Read more.
Meeting with Maryanne Stuart, Member for Heathcote (May 2023). Read more.
Submission to the Inquiry into plastic pollution in Australia’s oceans and waterways (December 2022). Read more.
Government advocacy
Locally, we know that valuable plastics research is being undertaken across the University of Wollongong (UOW) in diverse disciplines including engineering, business, geography, design and building and construction. Circular Plastics Illawarra invited academics from UOW to a workshop on 28 July 2023 to discuss how current research on plastics and sustainability could be leveraged to develop a circular economy for plastics in the Illawarra. Read a copy of the report from the roundtable here.
Research roundtable
Events
Next meeting
Meetings are usually held on the 1st Friday of each month, 9:15 - 11 am, face to face and online.
May meeting will be held first Friday in May(2nd May) at 10 to 12 AM (Note changed time). This is an on-site demonstration of Dr Aziz Ahmed’s plastics recycling prototype (ReCreateIt GigaLab: Turning Plastic Waste into Homewares). There will be no online meeting for the demonstration. CHANGED Venue Meet UOW’s (Main Campus) Building 4 Lobby. To be followed by a shorter monthly meeting nearby, 11 to 12 AM. Join the meeting here. May meeting agenda available here.
View April Minutes here.
October meeting
For our meeting on 4 October Circular Plastics Illawarra conducted a microplastics data collection at Corrimal beach with Corrimal Rotary. This data will contribute data to the national AUSMAP database. See item at Latest News tab on banner at top of page for more details.
GreenFest
Circular Plastics Illawarra will be having a stand at Corrimal Rotary’s GreenFest which will be held on Sunday 13th April: -
10am - 2 pm at Corrimal High School
Murray Road, Corrimal
See GreenFest link above for more details.
