By Kyra Gillespie
The state’s recycling crisis is a symptom of a bigger issue in kerbside waste management, industry experts warn.
Following the shutdown of one of Victoria’s largest recycling companies last Thursday 21 February, Cardinia Shire has sent the waste of hundreds of houses to landfill.
Three of SKM’s recycling facilities have now been closed due to compliance issues, resulting in over 30 Victorian councils scrambling to find somewhere to dispose of their recycling waste.
Ross Cheesewright, General Manager at Outlook’s Officer e-waste recycling plant, said the recycling crisis points to a bigger problem within Australia’s kerbside recycling system.
At the Hickson Road facility in Officer, over 1000 tonnes of appliances – including toasters, televisions and computers – are saved from landfill each year.
E-waste items dropped at Outlook Environmental are dismantled, processed and recycled for the manufacture of new products.
Mr Cheesewright said that while e-waste is only part of the solution, all levels of government should be looking towards sustainable options following China’s decision in early 2018 to stop importing low quality mixed recyclables.
“The biggest problem for co-mingled recyclables – which are the recyclables we put in our wheelie bins – is that there’s no viable or sustainable downstream use for that material,” he said.
“For instance, a metal can gets recycled back into a can all the time no problem, because it’s cost-effective and has a mature market. Whereas when it comes to waste plastic and glass, it’s cheaper and more economically viable to create new plastic and glass than it is to recycle old glass and plastic.
“There’s no recycled glass industry in this country and it’s the same with plastic. When we throw our plastic bottle into our recycling bin for example, it doesn’t go into making a new plastic bottle.
“I don’t know of anyone turning glass bottle back into a glass bottle, or a plastic bottle back into a plastic bottle in the country. What’s recycling then, when what you throw out doesn’t go into making a new item?”
Due to the cost and risk of re-purposing items, especially for the use of food or drink containers, companies often opt to manufacture new plastic and new glass.
While the future of Australia’s recycling industry looks grim, Mr Cheesewright believes asphalt manufacturers are an untapped resource when it comes to our mounting war on waste.
“There are asphalt manufacturers who are trialling embedding plastic bottles and recycled glass into the asphalt, which presents an opportunity to reuse thousands of tonnes of recyclables that are otherwise not viable to be turned into anything else.
“It appears to be a viable solution to a portion of the waste issue we are currently facing – imagine a whole area’s waste being reused back into municipal roads?”
Downer Group successfully trialled sustainable asphalt in the northern suburbs by embedding soft plastics and glass into asphalt.
The amount of recyclables that went into that road was the equivalent of five years of recycling production from that street.
Mr Cheesewright also said more onus should be put back on the manufacturers.
“We have fantastic sorting and collection networks, but are producing material for a market that doesn’t exist.
“Why allow a manufacturer to produce a product that, when it comes to the end of its’ life, has no viable reusable outcome?
“We need to put it back to manufacturers, because at the moment they’re not part of the discussion.
Cardinia Shire Council’s Acting General Manager of Assets and Services, Debbie Tyson, said they not yet been provided a timeframe from the EPA or from SKM.
“We have been investigating all variations of storage options for the short-term, however there are very few alternatives to our normal processor that are able to take recyclable material, including the kind of loose, lightweight items that councils are collecting,” Ms Tyson said.
“Council is continuing to deliver the kerbside collection service and there is no material change to the service provision to households. However, Council is disappointed we are having to divert recyclable materials to landfill.”
“We are in agreement with Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) that more needs to be done and value the support that the State Government and SKM are offering Councils at this time.”
A $13 million leg-up will be provided by the State Government to assist councils and industry to support the ongoing kerbside collection of household recyclable waste.
However, council assistance will only be provided until 30 June 2018. Councils will be required to meet any increase in recycling costs from 1 July 2018 onwards.
“The recycling industry is a private market, managed through contracts between local councils, businesses and service providers,” Bass Labor MP Jordan Crugnale explained.
“Councils have the opportunity to seek compensation for any addition costs from SKM through breach of contract provisions.
“Recycling contracts need to provide greater certainty and consistent services to our communities, rather than focus on getting the cheapest deals.”
Ms Crugnale said the State Government is actively supporting more efficient and resilient models for the recycling sector – including sustainable roads.
“We provided Downer with $67,000 for the plastic road project; Downer are also involved with a project where Sustainabiltiy Victoria is funding Melbourne University to conduct work with them, for permeable pavements in a car park – the total Sustainability Victoria funding is $160,000.
“We’ll continue to monitor the outcomes of this project and others which are looking at how waste can be used when building infrastructure such as roads, footpaths and car parks.”
City of Casey is one of two councils that have confirmed they are no longer sending their recyclable waste to landfill.
