Victoria – more to do on growing waste mountain

Saturday, 30 August 2008 00:06

“In this age of increasing concern over climate change and resource conservation Victoria (and the rest of Australia) needs to reduce waste generation and push recycling efforts even further.  The more waste recycled, the less energy used and greenhouse pollution produced,” said Jeff Angel, Director of Total Environment Centre.

“The Victorian government should seriously consider a major increase in the waste levy and support for comprehensive product take-back schemes for electronic waste and container deposits.  The answer to this growing problem is to adopt policies that can sustain continuous improvement, not pilot projects or ad hoc schemes,” he said.

Environment Victoria’s Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham said:

“To date waste has been a sleeper in the greenhouse debate. However with over 4 million tonnes of materials still going into landfill each year, Victoria needs to give it immediate attention as part of our response to climate change.”

“This report projects that waste to landfill will grow over the next decade, so unless we ramp up recycling and waste reduction, we will be going backwards in this area.”