Waste experts have welcomed the federal government’s latest push to “improve recycling consistency” in Australia. A new framework released this week from the Department of Environment and Water has been labelled “a decent first step” but huge questions – and criticisms – remain as Aussies can expect further changes to their kerbside bin collection in the near future.
On Tuesday, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said work is underway to make kerbside recycling and waste collection more “consistent across the country”, with state and territory governments aiming to work with local councils to “progressively introduce consistent bin lid colours, cut waste sent to landfill, and provide clearer information” about what can and can’t be collected and recycled.
The improvements, Plibersek said, will make it easier for Australian households to recycle, better manage food and garden waste, and save money.
Environment ministers from every state and territory — except Queensland — “agreed in principle” to the National Kerbside Collections Roadmap. This includes Australia’s first National Circular Economy Framework, new design guidance to improve recyclability of packaging, and a stronger national action plan to reduce waste and recover more resources faster.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Suzanne Toumbourou, CEO at the Australian Council of Recycling, said the announcement is an adequate first step, but she said “we need a whole lot of certainty about time frames and when this reform” will be delivered.
The changes are aimed at making it easier for Australian households to recycle, better manage food and garden waste, and save money. Source: Facebook / Paul Shanahan
More urgency, clarity needed: ‘Recycling value chain doesn’t work’
Australia uses more than six million tonnes of packaging every year at a rough cost of $15 billion, mostly paid for by consumers, with almost half ending up in landfill.
Toumbourou says we “really need to see a lot more pace in the progression of packaging reform” to provide certainty across the supply chain.
“From those who are making packaging to those who are recycling it — that should be a priority,” Toumbourou told Yahoo. “I understand reform is being developed. However, we are unclear about the timeframes.”
The commonwealth will consult further with government and industry on new guidance to improve the “recyclability” of packaging and push for stronger targets to manage waste.
Another “big priority” for the recycling sector, Toumbourou argued, is the incentivising of procurement of domestically produced recycled material.
“Don’t forget, all packaging that is on Australian shelves, whether it’s imported or manufactured domestically, ends up in our waste streams,” she warned. “Our priority is to recover that and remake it.
“The whole recycling value chain doesn’t work. So while we can talk about standardising recycling bins in Australian households, which is a good idea, in order to give consistency and confidence to residents, we have to make sure that after we collect and after we process, that material has somewhere to go back into the supply chain.”
Australia argued for a strong and binding global plastics treaty, and we’re acting at home by reforming packaging rules to reduce use of plastics and increase plastic recycling. But new materials like this could be game changing – watch with interest!
https://t.co/xioovdIAtI
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) December 9, 2024
Urgent battery recycling framework needed, expert says
Toumbourou said that while Tuesday’s announcement “hit some good notes”, we really “need to see how that is going to be delivered” in actuality. Those in the industry would like to see more urgency when it comes to a battery recycling framework — which she said was particularly pressing given the 10,000 battery-related fires that take place in Australia each year.
“We would hate to see a life lost as a result of this mismanagement of batteries and embedded batteries in consumer electronics,” she said.
“New South Wales has identified that they will be taking steps to address the end of mismanagement of batteries, [but] so far, no other jurisdiction has stepped up to the plate. Ideally we would have seen a national approach to this.”
Toumbourou said there were batteries embedded in “so many things”, including electric toothbrushes, power tools and handheld vacuum cleaners.
“People don’t recognise many of those would be lithium-based batteries,” she said. “We’ve not seen anywhere near the urgency and the holistic approach that’s needed to address the fires as a result of these batteries being placed in the wrong place.”
Greens blast ‘absurd’ waste reduction plan
Meanwhile, though Toumbourou saw some pleasing ideas, the Greens said the Albanese government has been “a complete disappointment on waste and recycling reform”.
“It’s absurd that our waste reduction targets are not legally binding, given what we know about the dangers of plastic pollution — yet the Albanese government has failed to take this critical step despite repeatedly claiming it will,” Greens spokesperson for waste and recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said.
“How hard is it to actually hold plastic producers to account for the pollution and mess they make? Clearly it’s too bloody hard for this government that is way too close to big business.
“To end the plastic waste crisis, we need to change the system that creates it. Yet the Environment Minister has instead chosen her signature move of kicking the can down the road, despite claiming on the international stage that Australia is committed to change.”
It comes as critics lament the fact that about half the councils around the country still don’t offer a bin for food and organic waste in order to increase rates of compost and desperately divert food waste from landfill.
“We’ve been watching this now for about 15 years, there’s always been the ambition for every council to offer it, [but] it’s really slow,” BioPak CEO and Compost Connect board member Gary Smith told Yahoo News last week.
Food waste ending up in landfill is driving up methane emissions. Source: Supplied
Why won’t Queensland join a new national recycling roadmap?
As for why Queensland abstained from agreeing to the roadmap, the newly-elected Crisafulli Government cited cost-of-living pressures.
It went as far as claiming to have “saved” Queensland families and businesses from “a major hit to the hip-pocket”, refusing to “shackle the state to costly federal government waste targets”.
“We will not add to Queenslanders’ cost-of-living burden by insisting on waste initiatives or targets that will increase family bills,” Queensland’s Minister for the Environment Andrew Powell said in a statement.
“We need to work towards improving these targets, while containing costs for residents, business, and Government.”
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