A new industry association opens for Western Australia

The Waste and Recycling Industry Association of Western Australia Incorporated was established in 2017.  WRIWA has two broad objectives that it pursues on behalf of its members;

- to achieve best practice environmental outcomes from collection, processing, recycling and disposal of waste
- to ensure markets are fair and transparent, ensuring competition occurs on a "level playing field" that drives value for customers and a fair return on investment for members.

WRIWA members are drawn from private sector operators with direct investment in plant and equipment. Members include the large nationally based waste collection and recycling companies, landfill owners and operators, and state/locally based C&I and C&D collection, processing and recycling companies.

WRIWA is committed to improving the Western Australian waste and recycling industry through the creation and promotion of industry driven policy.

WRIWA is an affiliate of the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC), the peak national body representing organisations operating within the waste sector.

Where applicable within a Western Australian context and operating environment, WRIWA follows the NWRIC Policy Roadmap to develop local views and positions so that submissions can be developed for changes and reform of waste sector policy and regulations.

Michael Harper has been President of WRIWA since its inauguration in 2017, having been re-elected in 2018 and 2019 to serve further terms of office.

He is a long-serving, well-known and respected member of the waste and recycling industry in WA, and served as a member of the State Recycling Advisory Committee, the precursor to the Waste Authority for three years (2000 to 2002).

Michael is also president of the Demolition Industry Association of WA, a role he has held for 21 years, having being continuously re-elected since 1998. He is also a former president of the National Demolition Industry Association.

In addition he is Chairman of Waste Stream Management Pty Ltd (WSM), WA’s oldest construction and demolition (C&D) waste recycling and landfill company.

Michael Bobrowicz is the WRIWA Executive Officer.

Michael has had a long career at senior levels in waste management in both the private and public sectors. After running his own demolition and environmental remediation firm, he became CEO of Waste Stream Management, a major WA landfill and recycling company, where he was responsible for opening the facility and managing it into profitability. He then took up the role of Manager of City Waste Services at Brisbane City Council, with overall responsibility for the largest MSW system in Australia. He graduated in 1973 from Flinders University in South Australia with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Philosophy.

The WRIWA Executive Committee is comprised of long term, experienced and successful participants in the waste collection, treatment, processing, recycling and disposal sectors of the market.