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Second Plan 1996-2000

The Second Plan was endorsed by ANZECC Ministers in November 1996 and signed in April 1997. The Plan had the same format as the First Plan and again had two main objectives;

Target at least 60% national newsprint recycling rate by 2000.
Achieve a collection rate by the Newsprint Producer / Publisher Group of 200,000 tonnes per annum by 2000.

Again this recycling rate was achieved well before the end of the Plan period with 64% achieved by 1999 and 68% achieved by the end of the Plan period.

In regards to the second objective, the industry made a voluntary increase to 230,000 tonnes per annum and this was achieved in 1999 with a collection rate of 235,500 tonnes and again in 2000 with a collection of 231,708 tonnes.

Again this was a wonderful result and achieved largely through the following actions;

The Second Plan period saw a continuation of most of the activity initiating in the First Plan. Most of the capital expenditure had been completed during the first period at both the producing mills and publishers. A fine tuning of systems was undertaken to improve the sorting of kerbside collected material and the transportation of it to Albury. Even with these improvements source separation by householders remained the most effective way to maximise recycling rates and minimise collection costs.
The recycling plant at Albury exceeded its capacity through increased efficiency, enabling it to increase the use of recycled fibre in the newsprint produced at the mill.
Another clever initiative that increased the overall efficiency of the recycling process was the use of trucks that carried the newsprint out of the mill to also carry the waste paper back into the mill. This enabled wastepaper to be delivered to the mill that would otherwise be too expensive to sustain.