Vic Victoria’s recycling crisis

[Kwality]

The dynamics of Melbournes household recycling has changed with Melbournes major household recycling company (not Visy)
calling in Receivers.
Can see the Receivers accepting only recyclables, the rest goes to landfill - if you've got a household recycling collection tomorrow, I can it backing up from before 7am, landfill queues filling up as the so called (yellow lidded bins/recycling collections) recycling trucks are rejected as recyclable.
Interesting couple of days ahead as Councils are held responsible for the rubbish in their recycling bins, the stuff the Chinese & the Indonesians call rubbish, BUT we call it recycling.

 

[Hawk Dork]

An Australian councillor has proposed replacing existing wheelie bins with a transparent version in a bid to encourage residents to recycle correctly.

See-through wheelie bins designed to shame people into recycling rubbish ...

An Australian councillor has proposed replacing existing green recycling bins with a transparent version in a bid to encourage residents to recycle ...

en.mogaznews.com

 

[Kwality]

see through bins developed in the UK a few years back now, no more than moving the deck chairs around on the deck of the Titanic.

 

[Hawk Dork]

Education

 

[Kwality]

The rules differ from council to Council, one set of rules at home another at work, typical of local government SNAFU.

SKM debts estimated $4.3 mil - tip fees outstanding?

 

[Ice-Wolf]

Maybe we need more bins than just recycling, green waste and rubbish

Should the recycling bin be split into 3 bins - Paper/Cardboard, Plastic, Metal? or even just 2 Paper/Cardboard, Plastic & Metal?

Maybe the State Goverment should take responsibility for processing instead of shipping it overseas for processing.

Also need to ramp up the education on what to put in the bins and really the system should be the same across all councils i.e. put the same things in the same bins etc.

 

[Kwality]

Maybe we need more bins than just recycling, green waste and rubbish

Should the recycling bin be split into 3 bins - Paper/Cardboard, Plastic, Metal? or even just 2 Paper/Cardboard, Plastic & Metal?

Maybe the State Goverment should take responsibility for processing instead of shipping it overseas for processing.

Also need to ramp up the education on what to put in the bins and really the system should be the same across all councils i.e. put the same things in the same bins etc.

I agree with the education, simplify what can be recycled & when in doubt put it in the rubbish bin - comingled recycling has been a failure, as I said before China & Indonesia call it rubbish, we call it recycling, its rubbish, what comes out of the yellow lidded bins is rubbish, admit & fix it.
No matter who tried to sort it, it would make no difference.

 

[Kwality]

All is not lost, plastics can be recycled when pre sorted :

Victoria has just opened Australia's largest plastic recycling plant

A new $20 million, state-of-the-art plastics recycling plant has opened in Somerton, Victoria and will process mixed plastics collected from kerbside recycling.

independentaustralia.net

Rather than plastic being collected, sent overseas, reprocessed then sent back to Australia, we saw an opportunity to close the loop and find a sustainable solution,”said Mr Wang.

 

[Kwality]

Calling out Councils:
.... councils that send kerbside recyclables to SKM were prioritising money ahead of public safety and the environment.

“Primarily it’s the councils not following through with their principles on environmental responsibility,” Mr Anderson said.

Waste industry chief calls on councils to cancel contracts with SKM

Councils must step up to help solve Victoria's recycling crisis, but many prefer to deal with troubled company SKM, the waste management industry chief says.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Kwality]

SKM Recycling chief in Court this afternoon over Coolaroo fire.

 

[tandino]

You think this level of a *up would have resulted in at least one person in a position of responsibility getting the arse.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

You think this level of a fu**up would have resulted in at least one person in a position of responsibility getting the arse.

Hard to do when nobody was in a position of responsibility

 

[Kwality]

You think this level of a fu**up would have resulted in at least one person in a position of responsibility getting the arse.

Pass the parcel, thats local government ..... its been a while since China said 'its rubbish', my Council has done nothing unless you count putting up rates, what about your Council ?

 

[Kwality]

Seen a claim the rubbish posing as recycling outed by the Indonesians came from Victoria some from Melton, not vi SKM Recycling.

 

[Kwality]

Seems the claim SKM being the hands of Receivers is not correct.

 

[Kwality]

2 years after the Chinese said 'no more rubbish'' Vic Govt has a problem, fancy that ....

 

[Kwality]

At last we are close to having a waste to energy facility approved in Laverton North, subject to the normal nimby delay. the longer the delay, the more yellow lidded bins waste/recycling goes to landfill.
Will the stuff in warehouses throughout the western suburbs sit there for a couple of years until there is a solution?
Who will pay the rent on these warehouses?
Who will look after the pest control & odour problems that are sure to follow?

 

[Adz]

2 years after the Chinese said 'no more rubbish'' Vic Govt has a problem, fancy that ....

But they were quick smart on banning plastic bags. What a joke this state is.

 

[Kwality]

But they were quick smart on banning plastic bags. What a joke this state is.

Its simple, ineffective but simple, immediate gratification for the virtual signallers.

 

[Kwality]

But they were quick smart on banning plastic bags. What a joke this state is.

Pass the parcel, local Government knew their recycling was being warehoused & enforced their contracts with SKM resulting in full warehouses - if SKM were rogues Lil (you there Harry ?) how complicit were the Council officers that turned their backs?

 

[Kwality]

The problem has been growing since January 2018, when China stopped taking most of Australia’s recycled material.

Recyclers used to pay councils up to $60 per tonne for recycled material but now they are being paid to collect it. However, the companies are not recycling the material. They are letting it build up so that it comprises a fire risk, or sending it to landfill. Whittlesea is dumping 65 tonnes of recycling material a day in landfill. Darebin 270 tonnes each week. Melbourne City Council about 190 tonnes this week. Kingston 240 tonnes over four days.

Currently if you live in one of these municipalities it does not matter whether you separate your rubbish and recyclables - it all ends up in landfill.

Boroondara, Brimbank, Cardinia, Colac Otway, Darebin, Golden Plains, Greater Geelong, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Kingston, Port Phillip, Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, Whittlesea, Wyndham.​

What's the solution? What are other states doing?

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/...ing-crisis-councils-urge-20190222-p50zos.html

At the time you posted this, the Minister was ducking & weaving for good reason it seems:

Victoria Politics | Breaking News and Headlines | The Sydney Morning Herald

The latest Victoria Politics breaking news, comment and analysis from The Sydney Morning Herald covering Local & State politics and politicians

www.smh.com.au

environment-minister-told-of-skm-plan-to-warehouse-waste-two-years-ago-20190815-p52hjy.html

C'mon Dan, Lils dropped the ball big time, get her off .....

 

[Frank Bunn]

At the time you posted this, the Minister was ducking & weaving for good reason it seems:

Victoria Politics | Breaking News and Headlines | The Sydney Morning Herald

The latest Victoria Politics breaking news, comment and analysis from The Sydney Morning Herald covering Local & State politics and politicians

www.smh.com.au

environment-minister-told-of-skm-plan-to-warehouse-waste-two-years-ago-20190815-p52hjy.html

C'mon Dan, Lils dropped the ball big time, get her off .....

When I asked the question 'What are other states doing?' I didn't expect the answer to be that they are sending it to Victoria.

The Age has revealed that SKM was also trucking thousands of tonnes of recycled waste from Adelaide to Melbourne and storing it in abandoned warehouses.​

 

[Power Raid]

get paid to "recycle it". put it into warehouses otherwise under-utilised.

set fire to it at some stage and collect the insurance

sounds like a decent business model for the mafia

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

get paid to "recycle it". put it into warehouses otherwise under-utilised.

set fire to it at some stage and collect the insurance

sounds like a decent business model for the mafia

You're not far off describing who's actually running it.

 

[Kwality]

You're not far off describing who's actually running it.

ho ho, who wants a business thats losing monet, next it'll be a tax dodge ...
Some comments from a Ballarat insider:
Australia is facing a crisis caused by the willingness of its citizens to do the right thing by the environment, and the lack of willingness by our governments to embrace its citizens' desires.
The country's recycling program has been brought to a standstill by a Chinese ban on our exports of plastics. Processor SKM is facing collapse, with 60 per cent of its almost 300,000 tonnes a year of recycling waste now likely to go to landfill.

We've known about the Chinese action since 2017, cant be blamed on Don Trump, its us, local government kept on as always until the $hit hit the fan, so blame the State Govt, when it drops the ball, blame the Feds .... its Lils problem.