By Tate Papworth
Brimbank council has thrown its support behind calls for a state-wide waste management policy.
A June report by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office Recovering and Reprocessing Resources from Waste revealed a number of issues with the response to resource recovery.
The report said as a result of these issues, Victoria’s reliance on landfill isn’t being minimised and a significant amount of waste sent to landfill could be recycled. It also stated that the lack of a state-wide policy has resulted in government agencies responding to waste management issues in an ad-hoc and reactive manner.
The report made 22 recommendations to agencies, including Sustainability Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Environment Protection Authority, and the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group
Brimbank mayor Lucinda Congreve said the council will write to the Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio requesting the government implement all 22 recommendations from the report.
“Without a state-wide policy, environment agencies have not been able to effectively prioritise their limited time and resources,” Cr Congreve said.
“Markets and infrastructure have not been effectively planned to manage the state’s waste. This is not good enough,” Cr Congreve said.
Cr Virginia Tachos said the community needed confidence in the system.
“In 2016/2017 Victorians generated and managed almost 12.9 million tonnes of waste, of which metropolitan Melbourne accounted for about 80 per cent,” Cr Tachos said.
“Sustainability Victoria estimated that Victorians recovered 67 per cent of waste generated for recycling, and sent the remaining 33 per cent to landfill.
“Our community – like others across the state and the nation – invest their time in separating bottles, papers and other recyclables. We need to be confident that these materials are being properly recycled.”
