South Australian councils are calling for stronger support and long-term funding to help local government accelerate the state’s transition to a circular economy.
The peak body for local government, LGA South Australia, made its recommendations in a formal submission to Green Industries SA’s draft South Australian Waste Strategy 2025–2030. Informed by feedback from SA councils, the submission welcomes the strategy’s focus on reducing waste, increasing recycling and building a more circular future.
It also identifies opportunities to strengthen the sector’s implementation by ensuring councils are well-supported to drive local action in their communities and deliver practical, place-based solutions.
“Councils play a big part in managing waste resources, from collecting bins to running landfills and recycling facilities,” says LGASA. “To realise the strategy’s ambitions, councils need supportive funding frameworks and solution-focused partnerships with other levels of government.”
Among the key recommendations featured in the peak’s submission:
- clearer priorities – to support actions that have the greater impact
- stronger funding support – to enable long-term investment in new infrastructure, services and equipment
- tailored solutions for regions – recognising that service needs differ between urban, regional and rural areas
- legislative changes – to support innovation and flexibility to try new approaches.
The submission also recommends separate circular economy targets to reflect the need to cater for region-specific differences.
We cannot recycle our way out of this; we need a systematic change.
“Councils have seen an increase in materials entering waste and recycling streams, along with other emerging problematic materials and chemicals that currently have no recycling pathways and find their way into the kerbside,” says LGASA. “We are consuming more products and materials than ever before. We don’t have a waste issue; we have a product design and consumption issue. We cannot recycle our way out of this; we need a systematic change.”
LGASA says councils are “uniquely positioned” to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy through their influence over procurement, the built environment, community services and engagement.
The state government will now review all feedback on the draft waste strategy, with the final version expected to be released later this year.
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