|
|
Recycling
By Bruce Barbour - December 2020
Victorian Government Strategy Document
Early in 2020 the Victorian Government launched its plan
for the future of recycling in Victoria (the
"Strategy").
I am not going to go through the Strategy on a line by line
basis. I will mainly looking at aspects that I believe will
be inadequate and/or could be done better.
Overall the Strategy lacks ambition to actually reduce
waste. It states that Australia on a per capita basis
generates has one to the highest waste footprints (35 tonnes
per person) in the world and is over 40% higher than the
United States and United Kingdom. It also states that it is
anticipated that 40% (probably gross) more waste will be
generated by 2046. Presumably this is a business as usual
estimate. The Strategy indicates a goal of 15% reduction of
waste per capita - down to 30 tonnes per person! A very
modest reduction. This will still leave the waste production
from each Victorian much higher that the citizens of the UK
and the US. Surely a goal of waste reduction to at least
that of the UK should be achievable - if the UK can do it I
can't see what is so special about Australia that we must
produce all the additional waste. The Strategy should be
aiming for a whole lot better - it should be aiming at
world's best practice - a whole lot lower than the proposed
weak target.
Four Bin Kerbside Collection System
The Strategy proposes the implementation of a 4 bin system
for domestic waste / recyclables kerbside collection:
- combined food and garden organics;
- glass;
- combined paper, plastic and metals; and
- residual waste.
The system does not specifically mention the recycling of
soft plastics. Nor does it mention unusable old clothing -
the type that is at the end of its life and not saleable in
the second hand market or suitable to be given away.
Soft Plastics
The issue with soft plastics is that the Strategy does not
specifically mention how plastic film / plastic bags will be
handled. While some single use plastic bags have been banned
already - the supermarket shopping bag - this is only
partially effective in removing plastic film materials from
the waste stream. For example while the single use
supermarket bag has been banned shoppers can buy "heavy
duty" plastic bags at the supermarket for the shopping.
These are supposedly multi-use - if brought back to the
supermarket. This
article in "The Conversation" indicates that the
thicker plastic bags need to be used more than 4 times
before disposal to have a better environmental outcome than
a single use plastic bag. A US study found that 40% of
shoppers "forgot" to bring reusable bags. If this study
result is transferable to Australia and the forgetful
shoppers all buy new thick plastic bags there would be no
environmental benefit from the banning of single use bags.
If not done already a local study should be done to
determine the actual environmental impact of the single use
bag ban and how it can be improved. My own observation is
that there is a significant percentage of shoppers that do
not bring reusable shopping bags and are unconcerned about
paying for purchasing thicker bags each time they shop. It
might be determined that it is better environmentally to no
longer sell the thicker plastic bag and just charge the
recalcitrant shopper 10 to 20 cents for each single use
plastic bag (with the money going to charity). They might
eventually get the message that they should buy and reuse
the polypropylene or other reusable material bags.
The same article indicates that the (usually green)
polypropylene bags needs to be used more than 11 times to be
better environmentally than single use plastic bags. (My own
usage pattern - a sample of one! - is that I use them many
more times than that.)
The supermarket shopping bag is just one type of single
plastic bag used in supermarkets. There are so many others -
bread wrappers, biscuit packets, plastic around toilet
paper, plastic around frozen foods, plastic bags for fruit,
plastic bags for the delicatessen items, plastic box liners
for cardboard breakfast cereal boxes. Everywhere you look in
the big supermarkets there are single use plastic bags and
containers. These plastic bags are not currently recycled
via the current council waste / recyclables collection
system. In the dot list above there is an item for plastic
collection in bin 3 but the Strategy is not clear that this
includes the soft plastics of the single used plastic bag /
plastic film. Unless it had been specifically stated I would
doubt that it would be collected as there would be technical
issues with separating the soft plastics from the paper
products that are also placed into bin number 3. Currently a
blower is typically used to separate paper out from the
recyclables stream. But also blows the soft plastics out as
well. (Some references also say that plastic bags jam the
rollers in the recyclables separation equipment - but if
that is the issue it is just a matter of improving the
design so it doesn't occur.) Unless the technology for waste
sorting has improved - or more labour intensive manual
method are used - soft plastics can't be collected in the
same bin as paper products.
If they wanted to collect soft plastics it would be better
for them to go in the glass bin (bin 2) or alternatively to
collect glass and paper in bin 2 and then soft plastics
could go into bin 3 with the hard plastics and the metal.
Redcycle
The big supermarket chains and their suppliers have
initiated a small soft plastics recycling scheme called Redcycle. While I
endeavour to use this system it would be completely
inadequate for the collection and recycling of all soft
plastics generated from supermarket sales if the majority of
people were to use it. The collection bin that is at the
supermarket is very small and as a consequence is often
overflowing. I have come to the opinion that this scheme is
primarily a public relations exercise so that the
supermarkets and supermarket item manufacturers can point to
it and say they are doing something - inadequate as it may
be - about the problem that they are primarily responsible
for.
To be effective soft plastics must be collected in the
Council kerbside collection bin system for recycling - until
a better solution to reducing the use of all single use soft
plastics is implemented.
Container Deposit Scheme
The Victorian Government will introduce a container
deposit scheme - finally catching up to many other
Australian states. A deposit will be introduced mainly for
drinks containers - those that are primarily bought when a
person is on an outing from home. Often these containers are
disposed of carelessly - either thrown on the ground or into
waterway as litter or into waste bins that would go to
landfill rather than recycling. The container deposit scheme
will not apply to many of the plastic containers purchased
in supermarkets - which it is hoped will be recycled via the
council kerbside bin collection system.
Energy from Waste
One of the aspects of the Strategy that is concerning is the
proposal to support energy production from the burning of
waste.
The future of energy production shouldn't be about burning
things - anything. It might be sustainable if the "things"
being burnt were organic in nature - food waste, paper
product, cotton material - but it won't be. With the
proposed 4 bin kerbside recycling system it is planned/hoped
that organic (including food) waste will be diverted from
the waste stream for mulching - and paper product also
diverted for recycling. What will be left in the waste
stream will be the soft plastics (plastic bags and film
which as discussed are not mentioned as being recycled) and
dirty paper products and old unusable clothes (again many of
them polyester and other synthetics rather than natural
materials) and a bit of other stuff that won't burn anyway.
The plastic film and polyester/synthetic materials in
clothing are straight from the fossil fuel industry and will
release carbon dioxide and toxic fumes when burnt. Similarly
the synthetics in the unusable clothing should be able to be
recycled if collected. And even if they can't be recycled it
may be better to simply bury them in landfill than to burn
them. At least the carbon in the material will not be
released into the atmosphere straight away.
Once these energy from waste plants are built they will
demand to be fed for their economic life - much like other
fossil fuel electricity generators - or have to be bought
out / compensated by Government to be closed down early. The
recycling strategy commits to supplying a maximum of million
tonnes of this waste per annum for burning until 2040. It is
quite likely that this million tonne figure will also be
treated as a minimum.
It should also be noted that these plants are often fiercely
opposed by the local neighbouring community due to the toxic
fumes the plant may generate from its operations.
Container Re-use
Unfortunately the Strategy does not commit to a container
reuse system.
As discussed soft plastics are endemic in our supermarkets
as is other packaging materials - cardboard, glass and
"hard" plastic containers. It would be impossible to shop in
a supermarket and not purchase items wrapped in plastic or
other packaging materials.
While there have been projects to
encourage people avoid single use plastics it is my
opinion that with the current set up it not practical for
the average person to shop without purchasing food in
plastics or other single use containers. Now I am sure some
of my readers are going to call out that they do it - they
go to their local farmers markets and carry their reusable
bags and cook everything from scratch using fresh produce.
So it is probably possible. However normal shoppers do not
have the time or the infrastructure located close to them to
be able to do this this. To have an environmental impact a
system has to be readily usable by the mass of shoppers who
just want to get the food home and easily cooked. It must be
the standard way of shopping.
Ultimately container re-use - where the shopper brings their
own containers to the supermarket which are filled in the
supermarket - is the only way to comprehensively address the
issue of packaging waste in our supermarkets. Everything
else is stop gap.
Other Links
The Strategy
https://www.vic.gov.au/transforming-recycling-victoria
https://youtu.be/njZnpfuiknk
Container deposit scheme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxtjIl3J3d4
Circular economy
https://youtu.be/WFniQ8zJ8ng
Green Oversite Home
Page

|
|
|