Victorian Auditor-General hands down damning recycling report
June 11, 2019
The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has handed down a scathing review of the state’s recycling sector, describing a waste management system suffering from systemic shortcomings resulting in ‘unacceptable risks’ to public health and the environment.
In its Recovering and Reprocessing Resources from Waste report handed to parliament earlier last week, the report details how the state’s government agencies are not adequately responding to the demands placed on the sector, leading to significant waste being diverted to landfill.
The report is particularly scathing in its finding that the state has lacked an overarching, statewide waste policy, which has lead to paralysis in key areas of waste management, including waste minimisation and regulation.
“The lack of an overarching statewide policy deprives responsible government agencies and their stakeholders of a clear and definitive direction for waste management, which means that government agencies' responses to waste issues have been ad hoc and reactive,” the report concluded.
The report concludes by making 22 key recommendations for the Victorian Government, including:
Developing an overarching, statewide waste policy
Improving quality and reliability of waste data
Clarifying the role of governments and government agencies
Developing strategies to reduce demand on international recycling and waste markets
The full report can be found here
