Buy Recycled Champion: Scott Bryant

Sustainability was a natural fit for me – I wanted to be involved in improving the state of the world.

I studied mechanical engineering at the University of Queensland (QUT) and after graduating in 2011 I moved overseas to pursue work in the renewable energy space as there were limited opportunities in Australia. I worked in Germany and the Netherlands in both energy policy and solutions before commencing a role at Zero Waste Scotland in 2016. The Scottish Government was focused on implementing a Circular Economy across 4 sectors, and my role focused on energy infrastructure.

While working in Europe I also undertook post graduate study in renewable energy and sustainability in the Netherlands and Portugal. I worked in my role at Zero Waste Scotland until 2019 and in 2020 I began as the Circular Economy Coordinator at the City of Greater Bendigo.

As the Circular Economy Coordinator at the City of Greater Bendigo I led the development of the Circular Economy and Zero Waste policy, as well as embedding Circular Economy (and scope 3 emissions) as part of the City’s Climate Change Strategy. This involved working collaboratively with a range of teams, including resource recovery, procurement, infrastructure delivery and executive management, and delivering roadshows and training sessions across the council.

My current role with respect to sustainable procurement is to try to support the use of policy across the organisation with an aim to make it business as usual. To do this I work closely with Council’s procurement team to embed the policy into their procurement processes. I also keep abreast of upcoming projects and then support and encourage the relevant project managers and designers to comply with the policy. This involves linking them to resources available through SV’s Buy Recycled Service and the ecologiQ program, including case studies and product directories.

I also support the market for recycled materials by engaging with local product suppliers and connecting them with recycled materials processors so they can obtain recycled content supply for their products.

We are currently working on a new initiative to close the loop on the soft plastics collected at our 4 transfer stations. We informed the market that we would have soft plastics available from residential drop offs and entered into an arrangement with a processor who is now accepting these materials. In return, council have committed to buying the equivalent quantity back as a recycled plastic product which can be used as a binder in asphalt.

Understanding the story of these plastics, including where they are going and that they are being brought back for use in the region, is resonating with the community, resulting in high quantities of plastics being dropped off. We are currently in the process of working with our engineering team to update council’s asphalt specifications to allow for the use of this recycled plastic product as standard as a binder in the asphalt.

I’ve worked in many areas of circular economy, including the relationship between circular economy and embodied carbon. I’m very happy to respond to any questions on these topics, including:

• circular economy and creating and implementing circular procurement processes
• embedding circular economy targets in sustainability strategies
• measurement of embodied carbon to report on scope 3 emissions
• measuring procurement of recycled products
• procuring circular economy infrastructure solutions.

The procurement team have been keen to support the circular economy through procurement and they have benefited from support to make them feel empowered to make these changes. They have been encouraged by the work happening in the City of Greater Bendigo, along with state and national discussions on circular procurement and are excited by the Recycled First and Buy Recycled initiatives.

I have found it challenging to provide enough education and training to capture and influence all staff, including new starters and those who have missed content. In hindsight, rather than relying mainly on staff education and training to get compliance with the policy, I would also endeavour to embed accountability for policy compliance by introducing Key Performance Indicators in staff performance plans, especially at a senior level. This, combined with education and training, would shift the profile of circular procurement towards core business.

I believe the focus on measuring scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions which are produced by activities outside of the organisation) at councils needs to ramp up to drive the procurement of recycled materials by local government. If councils move to measuring scope 3 emissions, which include embodied carbon of capital works projects, they will have a better idea of what their indirect emissions are and can start reducing these.

I think councils would benefit from a study into what the next 5 years of infrastructure procurement would look like for clusters of councils e.g. across geographical regions of Victoria. This information on long term demands would enable councils to engage with local suppliers regarding projected demand for (recycled) materials. It would also give suppliers the confidence to get on board and incentivise other suppliers to consider the use of recycled materials in their products. The Victorian government also needs to increase their proportion of spend on circular projects, products and materials, demonstrating their leadership in this space.

The playing field for local government is not very conducive to implementing a circular economy. A lot of focus has been on the ‘carrot’ - incentivising and encouraging through grants and trials. However, there is not enough ‘stick’ – mandatory requirements – to bring about a change to practices in councils, many of which are very time and resource poor. Similar to my previous response, a program similar to ecologiQ which supports the Recycled First Policy, requiring bidders to optimise their use of reused and recycled materials, may be a good starting point. Without this, there is no accountability and limits the change taking place.

I really enjoy day hiking and can recommend the Razorback Walk which begins at Mt Hotham and takes you on a 10km hike (20km return) to Mt Feathertop. The views are spectacular.