The Victorian Coalition Government’s new 30 year plan to better deal with waste will grow the state’s economy by unlocking the hidden value from recovered materials while protecting the health of communities and the environment, Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith announced today.
Mr Smith released the Coalition Government’s Getting full value: Victoria’s Waste and Resource Recovery Policy aimed at ensuring Victoria is a national leader in waste management and resource recovery.
Mr Smith said the policy would transform the state’s waste management system while further strengthening health and environmental standards.
“The Coalition Government’s new waste and resource recovery policy provides industry and local government with much-needed certainty, establishing a 30 year vision for waste and resource recovery with policy priorities to guide actions over the next 10 years,” Mr Smith said.
“The policy aims to reduce Victoria’s growing waste generation and make the best use of the resources available from materials that are currently going to landfill. At the same time this new vision ensures public safety and environmental health are given the utmost priority.”
Mr Smith said the new policy direction followed a critical Auditor-General’s report, which slammed the previous Labor Government for failing to act to properly deal with waste.
The June 2011 report found that “ineffective planning, leadership and oversight have resulted in inadequate co-ordination of implementation and limited progress” in reducing municipal waste.
Mr Smith said the Coalition Government’s policy provided clear rules about what is expected from industry in delivering integrated waste management and resource recovery systems to the highest standard, from planning, building and operating facilities, through to managing landfills after they close.
“The Coalition Government is adopting a more sophisticated and sustainable approach to resource recovery to benefit our environment and economy for the next 30 years, with a major focus on allowing the markets to drive demand for resource recovery,” Mr Smith said.
“The northern metropolitan green waste recovery facilities, currently being built in Bulla and Wyndham, will alone unlock around $30 million of industry investment in infrastructure and around $200 million in local government expenditure over a 15 year period.
“It will also generate up to 100 new jobs during construction and dozens more ongoing employment opportunities.”
Mr Smith said the waste and resource recovery policy clearly identified the Government’s role to:
* ensure markets can grow without undue burden from red tape;
* provide policy and regulatory certainty by identifying where and when infrastructure and services will be needed; and
* strategically reinvest into the sector where appropriate.
The policy has been developed after extensive research and consultation with the waste industry, local and state government, business and the community.