City supports MAV’s push for recycling reform

THE City of Greater Geelong has committed to a plan by the Municipal Association of Victoria to improve recycling across the state.

In the wake of the Australian recycling crisis, the MAV has proposed that local, state and federal governments should each take five steps to “achieve lasting beneficial change” and workable long-term solutions for waste management.

At the council meeting last month, Cr Sarah Mansfield successfully moved a notice of motion for the council to pledge to undertake its five steps in the “Rescue Our Recycling” plan, which are:

• Collaborate with the state government to procure kerbside recycling services with the aim of enhancing competition and attracting new investment
• Educate the community to reduce waste and minimise contamination in recycling bins
• Buy recycled products for corporate operations, services and infrastructure programs
• Explore options for stream separation in kerbside recycling collections to reduce contamination rates and maximise the value of recyclable materials, and
• Work with the state and federal governments to achieve reforms.

The City of Greater Geelong will engage with providers of recycling services in the G21 region to identify opportunities to enhance local recycling.

“We need to start acting and governing differently towards the waste management process,” Cr Mansfield said.

“We need to look at the issue as a whole country and find a way for all government levels, the private sector and community to work together, to ensure we continue to have recycling as an option of our waste management strategy, with zero waste being the ultimate goal.

“Zero waste takes a lot of work and current systems and regulation around packaging can make it hard for people to be as sustainable as they’d like to be.

“All three levels of government need to work together to make it as easy as possible for the community to reduce its waste.”

The “Rescue Our Recycling” plan calls on the Victorian government to provide funding relief to councils affected by the SKM closures to cover unbudgeted additional costs arising from the urgent need to find alternative options for the community’s recycling.

“With more than half a billion dollars of unspent landfill levy income sitting in the Sustainability Fund, the Victorian government has the means to both support councils in the short term and to drive meaningful change to the system for the longer term,” it states.