The Bega Valley is already a special corner of Australia.
Based on the Sapphire Coast in southeast New South Wales, the Bega Valley is a rural community with an Indigenous circularity story stretching back millennia and a current largely linear economy centred on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, food manufacturing, care services, tourism, construction, hospitality and the arts.
A region with significant biodiversity and a strong heritage in dairy and beef farming, forestry and fisheries. An ancestral land of significance to First Nations people. An inspiring valley to live in and visit. The birthplace of one of Australia’s iconic food businesses, Bega Group. A place that attracts ever-growing numbers of artist and musicians. Fertile ground for innovators and entrepreneurs. A place where being part of the community matters.
It is also a place that has faced devastating bushfires on more than one occasion, suffered significant economic loss through the COVID-19 pandemic, and is facing into the challenges that climate variability present. Like much of rural Australia, its young, marginalised and Indigenous people face significant social and economic challenges, with future opportunities too often limited.
In 2021, following a chance conversation about the circular economy in Europe and as the need to increase the region’s resilience was at the front of everyone’s minds, an idea to help the region thrive was born.
An idea to make the Bega Valley one of the world’s most circular economies; building on what’s already great about the region, whilst addressing the varied and interconnected challenges facing it.
An idea that led to the creation of the Bega Circular Valley program, inspired the National Circularity Centre project and underpins the ongoing drive to create ‘the most circular valley in Australia’.
EXPLORING WHAT A VISION MIGHT LOOK LIKE
Starting from this idea, and led initially by Barry Irvin and the Bega Group with support from the Bega Valley Shire Council, Rabobank and KPMG, a first look was taken at what might be possible in the valley if circularity was embraced. This led to the creation of a rough outline of what a more circular vision for the future might look like, captured in the graphic below.
BUILDING ON EXISTING CIRCULARITY IDEAS IN THE VALLEY
In exploring what a vision might look like it quickly became apparent that a number of initiatives were already underway in the region that operated under circularity principles. A clear appetite for pursuing circularity also became apparent in both the Bega Group (the valley’s cornerstone employer) and the Bega Valley Shire Council (already the home of a number of circular projects, including the FOGO organic waste re-use initiative).
Centered on agriculture, aquaculture, food waste and circular manufacturing, these projects provided an initial platform upon which a more comprehensive and accelerated circularity program could be built. While these early projects naturally focused more on agriculture and fisheries as the sectors that already had some circularity work underway (and are key to the region’s current economy), the aim is for the Bega Circular Valley program to grow to cover virtually every part of the valley’s socio-economic make-up – from agriculture through tourism to music and the arts. Everything that could make the Bega Valley a thriving and resilient circular region.
It was also at this point in late 2021 that a number of ‘foundational’ partnerships began to emerge and the decision to create the Regional Circularity Co-operative was taken, leading to the ongoing member program also being created.
Since then, much of the RCC’s work has been focused on supporting and growing the existing initiatives present in the valley, identifying and initiating a number of new pilot projects in a range of sectors like energy, waste and manufacturing, building the strong partnerships that will be essential to build the circular economy here, and exploring what measurement and monitoring will be needed (and how best it should be done).
Importantly, the plan to site the National Circularity Centre (NCC) in Bega also emerged. The NCC is a vital part of our vision for the Bega Circular Valley and will act as a focal point for all the region’s circularity initiatives, as well as being an ideal way to educate the local community (and the broader Australian population) about circularity and how it can transform society for the better. More detail on the NCC can be found here.
WHY CIRCULARITY IS SO SUITED TO THE BEGA VALLEY
Back in 2021 as the Bega Circular Valley program began to take shape, one of the things that was quickly apparent was how well suited the Bega Valley was to testing, and then scaling, a circularity program.
The region is a self-contained catchment, meaning we can measure the impact of circular initiatives relatively easily.
It also has just one council, which is important given many of the shifts required to build a circular economy are centred around local infrastructure that the Bega Valley Shire Council controls.
Whilst the current linear economy is mainly based on agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, care services, tourism, construction, hospitality, the arts and one cornerstone food manufacturing business (the Bega Group), some existing circular businesses were already present in the valley, and the region has an underlying openness to exploring more sustainable ways of living.
The region also faces many of the challenges – whether that be drought or bushfires, or the need for regenerative agriculture – that are common to many regions in Australia and can all be addressed through circularity as a way of building long-term community resilience.
It also has a large enough population for effective testing of circularity initiatives, whilst being small enough for these tests to happen quickly – and for any mistakes to be made (and learned from) quickly as well.
Taken together, these elements make the Bega Valley a perfect place to create Australia’s most circular valley.
WHY PLACE BASED CIRCULARITY IS SO IMPORTANT
Whilst the principles behind the circular economy are simple, changing the complex, intertwined systems underpinning our current linear economy to enable circularity is not.
Over the past two decades it has become evident that working to drive the circular transition at the ‘place-based scale’ – as exists in the Bega Valley – is particularly effective, as stated in multiple recent reports.
At the place-based level, new circular economy approaches can be developed and tested relatively quickly. Funding, resourcing and governance needs are lower than for large regional, city-wide or national programmes.
Additionally, working in a cohesive and enthusiastic community enables integration of all sectors and businesses when designing and executing the transition, enabling a much more comprehensive analysis of progress. Greater experimentation is possible because the risk vs. reward equation is so much more favourable.
Perhaps most importantly, local people reap tangible, immediate benefits. A focus on place-based circularity can quickly create jobs, support resilience, improve access to local, nutritious food, drive innovation and connect communities.
Made up of one river catchment, with mountains and forest to the west, north and south and the ocean to the east, just three main access roads, one airport and one port, the Bega Valley is also an ideal region within which to ‘measure what matters’ and ensure we track progress and quantify what works when it comes to regional, place-based circularity
As a clearly defined ‘place’ that is large enough to properly test circular approaches, but small enough that experimentation can be encouraged and scaled, the Bega Valley is perfectly positioned to be at the forefront of place-based circularity in Australia.
‘Place-based circular economy projects that are made for and with local communities make the circular economy tangible – something that can be experienced in real life.’
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE BEGA VALLEY
Over time, the Bega Circular Valley program has the potential to positively impact virtually every aspect of life in the region.
To create a future where the Bega Valley is famous for more than its pristine forests, waterways and beaches. Where the region is not economically dependent on a few major sectors, but supports a diversified and innovative mix of sustainable, circular enterprises. A place with ever-more circular retail and tourism offerings; an expanding circular construction industry; a vibrant circular arts and culture sector; a community actively engaged in circularity and thriving; and with First Nations people at the heart of it all.
This kind of transformation will clearly take time – hence why our vision talks about the Bega Valley becoming a world-leading circular economy by 2050 – but we have already taken the first steps on the journey and are excited about seeing where the next steps could take us.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
We are still very much at the starting line when it comes to creating the most circular valley in Australia.
Following the exciting announcements about the creation of the National Circularity Centre in late 2023 and now that this cornerstone project is underway, we are now focused on planning what the next 5 years of our journey to 2030 looks like, and how we can best accelerate the region’s transition towards circularity.
If you would like to be informed about what the next stage of the journey looks like – or have an idea for how to make the Bega Valley more circular – please contact us.