The aim of this new roadmap project is to develop a viable and sustainable organics recycling industry across Australia. This will involve new product and market identification and development of strategic plans that target both niche and wide-ranging markets for recycled organics.

The focus will be on the identification of product specifications that will allow the marketing and use of fit for purpose recycled organic products in agriculture, horticulture, landscaping and other value adding purposes.

This roadmap project is an initiative of the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA), Compost Australia and the Barton Group. It is funded in part by the Federal Government through AusIndustry, and various State Government Agencies including the Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, EcoRecycle Victoria, Zero Waste SA, ACT NoWaste and the WA Waste Management Board. Roadmapping Program The first stage of the program will be the development and preparation of a discussion paper to clarify the issues of supply, demand and the environment. This will be done by integrated background research of the recycled organics industry together with input from key stakeholders within the Australian recycled organics supply chain. Conference Series

The second stage will consist of five two-day conferences/workshops which will be conducted in the major capital cities during late February and early March 2005. Three overseas experts have been engaged to present relevant US and European case studies as well as bring the delegates up to date on the latest technology, issues and lessons from overseas. The conference and workshop series will be facilitated by Resource Consulting Services (RCS) Pty Ltd in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Working Group for Cleaner Production. This partnership will bring the experience of national agribusiness training and consulting, environmental research, supply chain mapping and roadmap preparation to the project. At the conclusion of day one of the conferences a networking dinner will be offered to delegates to encourage stakeholder networking and interaction with overseas experts