Inquiry Into Recycling and Waste Management: Final Report Iii About the Committee
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PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Environment and Planning Committee Inquiry into recycling and waste management final report Parliament of Victoria Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Ordered to be published VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER November 2019 PP No 94, Session 2018-19 ISBN 978 1 925703 90 0 (print version), 978 1 925703 91 7 (PDF version) Committee membership CHAIR DEPUTY CHAIR Cesar Melhem Clifford Hayes Western Metropolitan Southern Metropolitan Bruce Atkinson Melina Bath Jeff Bourman David Limbrick Eastern Metropolitan Eastern Victoria Eastern Victoria South Eastern Metropolitan Andy Meddick Dr Samantha Ratnam Nina Taylor Sonja Terpstra Western Victoria Northern Metropolitan Southern Metropolitan Eastern Metropolitan Participating members Georgie Crozier, Southern Metropolitan Dr Catherine Cumming, Western Metropolitan Hon. David Davis, Southern Metropolitan Bev McArthur, Western Victoria Tim Quilty, Northern Victoria ii Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee About the Committee Functions The Environment and Planning Committee (Legislation and References) is established under the Legislative Council Standing Orders Chapter 23 — Council Committees and Sessional Orders. The committee’s functions are to inquire into and report on any proposal, matter or thing concerned with the arts, environment and planning the use, development and protection of land. The Environment and Planning Committee (References) may inquire into, hold public hearings, consider and report on other matters that are relevant to its functions. The Environment and Planning Committee (Legislation) may inquire into, hold public hearings, consider and report on any Bills or draft Bills referred by the Legislative Council, annual reports, estimates of expenditure or other documents laid before the Legislative Council in accordance with an Act, provided these are relevant to its functions. Government Departments allocated for oversight: • Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning • Department of Premier and Cabinet Inquiry into recycling and waste management: final report iii About the Committee Secretariat Michael Baker, Committee Manager Kieran Crowe, Inquiry Officer Alice Petrie, Research Assistant Justine Donohue, Administrative Officer Contact details Address Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Parliament of Victoria Spring Street EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002 Phone 61 3 8682 2869 Email [email protected] Web https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/epc-lc This report is available on the Committee’s website. iv Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Contents Preliminaries Terms of reference ix Chair’s foreword xi Findings and recommendations xiii Acronyms and terms xxiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Conduct of the Inquiry 1 1.1.1 Advertising 1 1.1.2 Stakeholder engagement 1 1.2 Submissions 1 1.3 Public hearings 1 1.4 Interim report 3 1.4.1 Scope of the interim report 3 2 Victorian Overview 13 2.1 Overview of recycling and waste management in Victoria 13 2.1.1 Waste streams 14 2.1.2 Waste material types 16 2.1.3 Recycling rates 19 2.1.4 Landfill rates 21 2.1.5 Waste levy 24 2.1.6 Sustainability Fund 29 2.1.7 Commonwealth Government 35 2.1.8 State government 35 2.1.9 Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 35 2.1.10 Environment Protection Authority 36 2.1.11 Sustainability Victoria 36 2.1.12 Waste and resource recovery groups 37 2.1.13 Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability 38 2.1.14 Infrastructure Victoria 39 2.1.15 Auditor-General’s comments on governance of the recycling and waste management industry 40 2.1.16 Local government 42 Inquiry into recycling and waste management: final report v Contents 2.2 The recycling crisis 44 2.2.1 Causes of the crisis 45 2.2.2 China’s National Sword policy 45 2.2.3 Limited service providers 50 2.2.4 The impact of market collapse 51 2.2.5 Impact on communities outside Victoria 57 2.2.6 Government responses 58 3 Municipal waste 61 3.1 What is municipal waste? 61 3.2 Municipal recycling in Victoria 61 3.3 Contamination in municipal recycling 62 3.3.1 Co-mingled recycling bins 62 3.4 Glass contamination in municipal recycling 64 3.5 A separate municipal glass recycling bin 65 3.5.1 The economic and environmental considerations for a separate municipal glass collection service 66 3.5.2 Experiences with the introduction of separate municipal glass recycling bins 67 3.5.3 The Committee’s view in relation to the introduction of a separate glass bin for municipal recycling 69 3.5.4 Uses for glass collected in a separate municipal recycling bin 70 3.6 Landfill waste contamination in kerbside municipal recycling 70 3.7 Food organics and garden organics 71 3.7.1 Different types of organic waste and municipal collection arrangements 71 3.7.2 Diversion of food waste from landfill 71 3.7.3 Food waste avoidance 73 3.7.4 Uses of food and organics waste and infrastructure required 73 3.7.5 The Committee’s view on the statewide introduction of a separate FOGO bin 74 3.7.6 Biodegradable bags suitable for composting 74 3.7.7 Composting at home 76 3.7.8 FOGO contamination 76 3.7.9 Costs for introducing FOGO services 77 3.7.10 A costing for a fortnightly statewide kerbside food and garden waste collection with 120L bins from the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office 79 3.8 Municipal recycling education 80 3.8.1 The importance of education in reducing contamination in municipal recycling 80 3.8.2 Fragmented and inconsistent municipal recycling education 81 3.8.3 Difficulties with inconsistent municipal recycling practices and capabilities 83 3.8.4 Implementing a statewide municipal recycling education campaign 84 3.8.5 Municipal waste avoidance education 86 vi Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Contents 3.9 Standardising statewide municipal recycling practices and capabilities 87 3.9.1 Bin lid standardisation 89 3.10 Auditing of recovery rates 91 3.11 Municipal waste as an essential service 93 3.11.1 What is an essential service? 93 3.11.2 The Essential Services Commission’s inquiry 94 3.11.3 The implications of waste as an essential service 94 3.11.4 Views of stakeholders 95 3.12 A container deposit scheme 96 3.12.1 Container deposit schemes in Australia 96 3.12.2 Overview of the NSW Government’s Return and Earn scheme 97 3.12.3 Decreased contamination 101 3.12.4 Overall glass recycling rates 102 3.12.5 Markets for products of the scheme 103 3.12.6 The views of stakeholders regarding a container deposit scheme 104 3.12.7 Costing estimate from the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office 105 3.13 E‑waste 106 3.13.1 Markets for e-waste material 107 3.13.2 Solar panels (solar PV) 108 3.14 Planning considerations for the collection of municipal waste 110 3.14.1 Multi-unit developments 110 4 Waste avoidance 113 4.1 A circular economy 114 4.2 Single use plastics 117 4.2.1 Government action 118 4.2.2 Banning use 118 4.2.3 Minimising use 120 4.3 Product stewardship 122 4.3.1 Product obsolescence 127 4.3.2 Packaging 128 4.3.3 Labelling 135 5 Waste and resource recovery infrastructure 139 5.1 An overview of waste and resource recovery infrastructure in Victoria 139 5.1.1 Collection infrastructure 139 5.1.2 Recovery facilities 140 5.1.3 Disposal infrastructure (landfills) 143 5.2 Regional waste and resource recovery infrastructure 144 5.2.1 High transport costs 144 5.2.2 Government investment in regional Victorian waste and resource recovery infrastructure 146 Inquiry into recycling and waste management: final report vii Contents 5.3 Materials recovery facilities 147 5.3.1 Improving materials recovery facilities 149 5.4 Victoria’s future waste and resource recovery infrastructure needs 150 5.4.1 Infrastructure Victoria’s report 150 5.4.2 Infrastructure uncertainty and commercial investment 150 5.5 Product‑specific processing facilities 153 5.6 Landfill closure 154 6 Energy from waste 157 6.1 What is energy from waste? 157 6.1.1 Types of energy from waste 158 6.2 Regulatory framework 161 6.3 Initiatives in Victoria 162 6.4 Benefits and challenges 163 6.4.1 Circular economy 163 6.4.2 Energy 167 6.4.3 Environment 168 6.4.4 Public health 176 6.4.5 Financial 178 6.4.6 Municipal solutions 179 6.4.7 Policy certainty 181 7 Market development 185 7.1 Government policy and action 185 7.2 Creating and growing markets 188 7.2.1 Existing markets 189 7.2.2 New markets 191 7.2.3 Incentivising the use of recycled materials 193 7.2.4 Product testing and specifications 195 7.2.5 Government procurement 196 Appendices 1 About the Inquiry 201 2 The Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group’s required infrastructure schedule 219 Extract of proceedings 223 Minority reports 243 viii Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Terms of reference Inquiry into recycling and waste management That this House requires the Environment and Planning Committee to inquire into, consider and provide an urgent interim report, as the Committee deems necessary, on the current circumstances in municipal and industrial recycling and waste management, and provide a final report, by Tuesday, 13 August 2019, on the crisis in Victoria’s recycling and waste management system, partly resulting from the China waste importation ban, including, but not limited to— 1. the responsibility of the Victorian Government to establish and maintain a coherent, efficient and environmentally responsible approach to solid waste management across the state, including assistance to local councils; 2.