When a group advising Minister Tanya Plibersek suggests ASIC should educate directors about the circular economy and its relevance to their climate change disclosure duties, it's time to sit up and take notice.
The suggestion came from the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group, which is led by Professor John Thwaites, and which has had ministers Plibersek, Bowen and Husic present at some of its meetings, along with Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Minister Plibersek recently released the advisory group's interim report and it's a cracker of a read.
Its numerous recommendations include a call to "raise the profile of [the] circular economy in directors' duties".
This could include asking the Australian Accounting Standards Board and ASIC to create guidance on "how businesses can use the circular economy to comply with new climate-related disclosure requirements".
The report also recommends that the government encourage voluntary reporting in line with the ISSB sustainability standard (the companion to its climate standard), and should then move to make it mandatory.
It also calls for the development of a National Circular Economy Framework, and the setting of national and sector-based circular economy targets, with regular progress reporting.
And it wants circular economy principles and actions embedded in all six of the net zero sector plans that are being developed by the federal government – something that is bound to happen because the government has already said the circular economy will be a "cross-cutting issue" for all the plans.
From 1 July, businesses bidding for government construction services projects above $7.5 million must meet agreed sustainability outcomes - a threshold that will capture about 50% of the value of construction services procurement contracts that are awarded by the government.
From 1 July next year, the policy will extend to tenders for textiles, ICT goods, and furniture, fittings and equipment that have a value above $1 million.
Circularity is one of the policy's three focus areas, with the other's being climate and the environment.
And there's more still to come in 2024. The NABERS building ratings scheme is currently developing an embodied carbon tool that will be launched later this year. The tool will encourage the use of low-emissions building materials, which will in turn encourage the use of materials with recycled content.
The recent activity will be greeted with relief by the waste and recycling industry, which for years has been calling for a greater emphasis on circularity, including in submissions to the current Senate committee inquiry into waste and recycling policy.
However, it won't be an easy task.
That's partly because the concept is poorly understood, as Sustainability Victoria's latest State of Sustainability Report found.
When asked about the term 'circular economy', 46% of Victorians said they had never heard of it, and a further 26% had heard of it but said they didn't really understand it.
Of the remaining 28% who considered they understood the term, it's a safe bet that most thought it meant no more than separating recyclables and waste.
That's a gross misunderstanding of a concept that requires an examination of every stage of how we build and manufacture things – from the design phase through to the operational stage through to end-of-life disposal.
Another challenge is that Australia has a particularly long way to go.
A recent CSIRO report has found that Australia's circularity rate – the measure of the efficiency with which resources are reused and recycled within a system – is half (4%) that of the global average (8%).
Nevertheless, the potential benefits are huge as another CSIRO report, released earlier this year, confirms.
The CSIRO's report on Australia's circular economy opportunity focuses on five sectors – mining, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and resource recovery.
Last week's Budget allocated $23 million to be spent in FY25 to continue delivery of the government's work on the circular economy, and explicitly says there is the possibility of more funding once a new national circular economy framework is developed.
Meanwhile, the ministerial advisory group is continuing its work and is interested in hearing from individuals and organisations with views on circularity and what it means for Australia. It's an invitation that should be taken up by all those with an interest in achieving net-zero, and in achieving broader sustainability goals.