Fortnightly collections of food and garden waste in Victoria would cost the state more than half a billion dollars over the next four years, a parliamentary budget office costing for the Greens has revealed.
As the state searches for ways to tackle an ongoing waste and recycling crisis, the Greens party has called on the state Labor government to consider providing a fortnightly collection service for food and other green waste.
According to an Infrastructure Victoria report last week around 35% of the weight of household bins was food and other organic waste.
Dozens of councils in Victoria are experimenting with food-waste recycling, most recently with Darebin council charging people who want a green 120-litre bin just over $50 per year to collect organic waste fortnightly.
To extend the program across the whole state – and cover the cost for the service and the need for new waste-processing centres – would set the state back $514.7m, according to the Victorian parliamentary budget office, out to 2022-23.
Providing bins, operating expenses, and the new waste-processing facilities accounts for $451.2m of this cost, while the office said there would be a $63.5m decline in the landfill levy due to less waste ending up in landfill.
The Victorian Greens environment spokesperson, Ellen Sandell, argued the funding could come from the state’s sustainability fund, which she said was not being spent on environmental projects. In the environment department’s annual report, released this month, it revealed the state government’s sustainability fund is sitting at over $400m, and $194m was spent on grants in the previous year.
“The landfill levy was established in law to support environmental programs, but the Labor government is instead stockpiling it to prop up their bottom line,” Sandell said.
“We need investment in solutions now, and giving everyone new bins for kitchen waste so that it can be turned into compost for our farms and gardens is really a no-brainer.”
A solution proposed by an interim report released by Infrastructure Victoria this month was for households to be provided up to six bins for waste, divided into general waste, organics, plastics, paper and card, glass and metals.
“Victoria’s current commingled system does not produce sufficiently clean streams to support end markets for recycled materials,” the report noted.
Part of the confusion is that of the 79 councils in Victoria there are many different systems for recycling and people are unaware of what they should be doing. A survey conducted as part of the report found people were confused about what can go in which recycling bin.
