Read a snapshot of some of the policy and regulatory updates relevant to the environment in the July to September 2025 quarter across Australia and New Zealand.
Only got 60 secs? Here’s a quick recap
- A national mandated scheme to prevent solar panels ending up in landfill
- Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment
- Circular economy essential to meet new 2035 emissions targets
- As global plastics treaty talks falter, plastic use in Australia goes unabated
- ACCC proposes to authorise new scheme for soft plastics recycling
A national mandated scheme to prevent solar panels ending up in landfill
At the August meeting of the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council in Sydney, NSW representatives advocated for a national mandated scheme to prevent solar panels from ending up in landfill, instead directing them towards remanufacture or recycling.
Annual solar panel waste volumes in Australia are predicted to nearly double over the next five years, reaching 91,165 tonnes in 2030. The surge in waste is expected to be greatest in metropolitan cities from domestic use, with volumes beginning to grow in regional areas from large-scale solar facilities after 2030.
Energy Ministers recognised increasing calls for improved end-of-life management of solar panels, including those at large-scale facilities. Many solar panels are disposed of well before the end of their useful life, typically being stockpiled, exported, or sent to landfills. More than 95% of a solar panel is recyclable and contains valuable materials, including aluminium, glass, copper, silver and silicon, which can be beneficially recovered and reused.
Veolia’s observations
Australia is about to “mine” a new ore body: solar waste. Veolia sees this every day globally—we opened Europe’s first dedicated PV recycling plant in Rousset, proving that panels can be recovered at ~95% and fed back into the glass, aluminium, copper, silver, and silicon supply chains. We support the Ministers’ intent and call on the Commonwealth to introduce a simple, national scheme that keeps panels out of landfill: easy take-back, triage for reuse, and accredited recycling for the rest. This scheme could be funded through a small advance recycling fee on every panel sold or imported, and backed with an extended producer responsibility (EPR) covering importers and utility-scale assets. Done right, solar stewardship will turn a looming waste wave into a domestic materials industry—cutting stockpiles and emissions and creating Australian jobs.
Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment
The first-ever National Climate Risk Assessment (NCRA) was released, finding that all Australian communities will experience cascading, compounding and concurrent climate risks. The NCRA warns that 1.5 million Australians are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050 unless climate change can be limited. It also found that under 1.5°C of warming, sea levels would rise by 0.14m on average, and by 0.54m under a 3°C scenario, with Queensland home to 18 of the 20 most-exposed regions.
The Australian Climate Service prepared data and analysis from world-leading experts and scientists from the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Geoscience Australia. The Government also released Australia's first National Adaptation Plan to guide its response to the risk assessment's findings.
Veolia’s observations
Veolia welcomes the National Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan. They confirm systemic risks to lives, livelihoods and essential services, and an urgent need to accelerate plans for decarbonisation and adaptation. As Australia’s circular-economy partner, we’re scaling renewables and firming, electrifying fleets, hardening water and wastewater assets, expanding organics (FOGO) recycling, and capturing landfill gas—cutting emissions while lifting community resilience. Vulnerable households and regional communities must be prioritised with affordable, clean energy and heat-safe water services. Clear targets, stable policy and faster approvals are essential to deliver bankable projects at pace.
Circular economy essential to meet new 2035 emissions targets
The Albanese Government announced it will set a 2035 emissions reduction target of 62–70% below 2005 levels, adopting the advice of the Climate Change Authority. The plan focuses on five areas: cleaning up electricity with more renewables, transmission and storage (including household batteries); lifting transport electrification and car efficiency through the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, EV uptake and better energy performance; expanding clean fuels such as low-carbon liquids and green hydrogen; accelerating innovation via Future Made in Australia and ARENA; and scaling net carbon removals by rewarding landholders under a strengthened ACCU scheme.
Veolia’s observations
Veolia welcomes greater climate ambition from the Australian government. With clear, investable policy and streamlined approvals, ambition can be turned into achievement. Industry needs a level playing field, faster pathways to build critical infrastructure, and stable signals that crowd in private capital alongside public finance.
Doubling Australia’s circularity by 2035 is pivotal to delivery: designing out waste, electrifying and improving efficiency, scaling clean fuels, and expanding high-quality carbon removals. CSIRO modelling shows a circular economy can add ~$26 billion to GDP each year by 2035, cut emissions by ~14%, and divert ~26 million tonnes from landfill annually.
Across energy, water and resource recovery, Veolia stands ready to invest in local re-manufacturing, organics and plastics recycling, grid-supporting clean energy, and nature-positive projects—practical decarbonisation that strengthens competitiveness and jobs while meeting the target.
As global plastics treaty talks falter, plastic use in Australia goes unabated
As a member of the High Ambition Coalition to end plastic pollution, Australia publicly committed to solving the problem of plastics at a global level. Minister for the Environment, Murray Watt said Australia is seen as a world leader in protecting the ocean environment. “We are determined to push for an effective and meaningful global treaty to achieve our goal of ending plastic pollution by 2040,” Minister Watt said.
However, as global plastics treaty talks stalled in the final round of negotiations, Australia’s latest Plastic Flows and Fates Report laid bare the problem at home: Australia put 4.0 Mt of plastics on the market in 2023–24 and generated 3.2 Mt of plastic waste, recovering just 14%—a reminder that the domestic curve still isn’t bending.
Veolia’s observations
Veolia welcomes scrutiny of Australia’s plastics crisis and calls for decisive system fixes. We have the skills to remanufacture here, but policy must level the field with virgin resin. We urge governments to: finalise a national, mandatory EPR scheme with design standards; set enforceable recycled-content targets across packaging, products and public procurement; phase down virgin plastics using strong levers, including a levy; and build robust local markets by curbing imports that crowd out recycled content. Match global ambition so Australia captures jobs and investment while making plastics truly circular.
ACCC proposes to authorise new scheme for soft plastics recycling
In August, the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation to establish a voluntary, industry-led scheme to collect and recycle soft plastic packaging from consumers. The scheme will be run by Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA) and aims to increase the collection and recycling of soft plastic packaging from consumers, such as shopping bags and food wrappers. Initial members of the scheme are Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Nestlé, Mars and McCormick Foods. The ACCC has previously authorised the major supermarkets to engage in conduct as part of the Soft Plastics Taskforce to process the stockpile left over from REDcycle.
Veolia’s observations
Veolia is a participant in Australia’s packaging supply chain through our collection and resource recovery of materials from municipal, commercial/industrial and construction/demolition sources. Veolia supports the intent to establish a federal regulatory stewardship approach for soft plastics but emphasises that scheme design, governance, and market development will determine whether it delivers lasting public benefit.
Voluntary schemes are unlikely to deliver the scale of change required. Veolia has consistently advocated for a federal mandatory EPR scheme for packaging, funded by industry fees proportional to design, recyclability, and recycled content. Such schemes have driven positive outcomes in Europe and should be the eventual model for Australia. To deliver genuine public benefit, the scheme must also avoid undermining existing kerbside and MRF systems, ensure infrastructure and end markets are in place before large-scale rollout, drive packaging design changes that make soft plastics recyclable in practice and guarantee levy transparency, robust reporting, and competition safeguards.
Queensland and South Australia plan their waste strategies
The Queensland Government has sought feedback on the draft new Queensland Waste Strategy 2025-2030: Less Landfill, More Recycling. The draft Strategy aims to implement practical measures to boost recycling and reduce the environmental impacts of waste, without adding additional costs to business and households. Queensland will also review their waste disposal levy in 2025-2026, including assessing its effectiveness and determining the potential for increased inter-state waste transport to Queensland if NSW increases its waste levy.
Green Industries South Australia has released the draft Accelerating SA’s transition to a circular economy: South Australia Waste Strategy 2025-2030, which will include focus on food waste, single-use plastics, regulatory waste reforms, education and behaviour change, market development and remanufacturing. Consultation closes 23 July 2025.
Veolia’s observations
Veolia welcomes the draft new Queensland Waste Strategy 2025-2030 and we support its primary objectives of reducing waste, increasing recycling and supporting jobs in a more circular economy. Similarly, we support the South Australian strategy’s drive for continued leadership in waste management, resource recovery and accelerated circular economy transition. With the right policy settings, circular economy initiatives can not only increase productivity and boost the economy, but also contribute to reducing the cost of living. We will continue to advocate for national harmonisation of regulation where possible, such as for landfill levies and extended producer responsibility schemes, including for packaging.
- Further Reading -
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