CEO Update
Welcome to our April edition of Connections. As you would attest by now, 2020 will be remembered as one of the most turbulent years in living memory. Whether it be the bushfires in January, the rain and floods in February, or COVID-19 in March, Australia (and indeed the world) now finds its-self facing one of the greatest health, logistics and financial challenges of our time.
In response to COVID-19, ANZRP activated its emergency response plan and has supported all staff to work from the safety of their homes. Assisted by the organisation’s robust networking and communications systems, this has been a seamless transition allowing us to maintain business as usual status.
I am proud to report that our approach has been faultless, ensuring minimal impact to any operational aspects of the business. At this stage, our national collection footprint remains strong with only a handful of council sites temporarily suspending operations. Additionally, we are in discussions with Officeworks as it assesses its ability to safely continue in-store collections.
As we navigate these uncharted waters, I am in regular contact with the Regulator, and my team is closely monitoring volumes to ensure everything that can be will be done to achieve our targets.
As Australia’s first and foremost co-regulatory arrangement, ANZRP’s Board remains committed to meeting the needs of members whilst ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff, collection partners and logistics providers. Our intention is to continue to provide e-waste services in Australia for as long as government deems it to be an essential service.
In other news, I am happy to report that problems involving the Regulator’s database have now been resolved meaning members will have received their finalised SOA letters.
As for targets, under any other circumstances receiving confirmation of our target 9 months into the year would present us with a challenge or two. Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, I wish to assure members our extensive collection network, longstanding relationships with accredited recyclers, and a healthy over-collect from last year, at this stage we are in a good position to meet obligations.
As you would be aware, in February we sent to members their lifecycle assessment reports based on the amount we collected and recycled on their behalf last year. These reports provide valuable environmental information that members are using to communicate with relevant stakeholders. We received a very positive response to these reports and will be looking to expanding this information in future.
In early March the ANZRP Board and senior executive team undertook a comprehensive strategic planning session to develop a 5-year plan to 2025. This exercise gave us an opportunity to assess the dynamic nature of the market, our aspirations, and plan for anticipated changes that will impact the recycling sector.
Our primary focus remains intact – to provide top quality product stewardship services to members, whilst advocating to government on their behalf. We also intend to ramp up lobbying efforts to expand the NTCRS to encompass the full scope of electronic waste products in Australia which will encourage investment and lead to job creation whilst pushing costs down.
On behalf of the board and my dedicated team, stay safe and let’s work together to flatten the curve.
Warren Overton, CEO
