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Follow up story from @Gwaihir 39620161 yesterday
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https://www.theage.com.au/national/...d-to-level-playing-field-20190723-p52a1n.html

Recycling crisis: Companies urge Andrews government to 'level playing field'
Benjamin Preiss and Sumeyya Ilanbey
July 23, 2019 — 6.22pm

A major waste management company has warned it is holding back further investments in recycling facilities in Victoria and urged the Andrews government to ensure the “playing field is levelled” in the state’s battered recycling sector.

The call for reform by recycler Bingo Industries comes as state and local governments prepare for massive disruptions to kerbside waste collection with troubled waste processing company SKM reportedly teetering on the brink of collapse.

Bingo Industries wants tougher penalties for rogue operators and an increase in waste disposal levies in Victoria to encourage recycling and divert waste from landfill.



It also called for “minimum operating standards” to weed out operators that refused to comply.

Bingo is currently holding back on further investment in recycling facilities until the playing field is levelled,” it said in its submission to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

“Our significant investment to date in compliance measures must be supported by regulatory enforcement in order to encourage further investment.”

The company said it was considering investing an additional $50 million to $100 million in recycling assets “providing the regulatory environment is suitably attractive”.

However, its submission also noted the “supportive economic and regulatory drivers” for its business in Victoria, and said it had invested more than $50 million in site acquisitions and committed about $50 million to upgrades.

Bingo provides recycling services in the building and demolition and commercial and industrial sectors in Victoria. The company has ruled out moving into municipal kerbside collections if SKM closes.


However, it argued that increasing the percentage of recycled materials required to be used in all government construction and infrastructure projects would help create a sustainable market for recycled products.

Bingo’s submission comes as new figures show that temporary bans on SKM earlier this year cost local councils more than $1.7 million, as they scrambled to dump 21,400 tonnes of recyclables into landfill.


About 21,402 tonnes of recyclable material (similar to the weight of 36 Airbus A380s*) was sent to landfill over a ten-week period after the temporary closure of four SKM plants in early 2019.
Cost to councils: about $1.7m


The industry has been in limbo since China effectively stopped accepting Australia’s recycling waste in January last year.

The crisis forced councils to fork out an extra $64 a tonne for recyclable waste in the past financial year compared to 2016-17, according to parliamentary budget office figures commissioned by the Greens.


“However, some councils were more significantly affected,” the parliamentary report states.

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“Prior to [China’s] National Sword Policy, some councils reported receiving around $60 per tonne by selling their recyclable waste to local recycling service providers. Now, these councils pay recycling service providers around $70 per tonne - a net negative impact of around $130 per tonne.”

SKM is facing a wind-up application in the Supreme Court on Wednesday with creditors pursuing several million dollars in debts.

And local councils could be plunged further into turmoil if the company goes into administration with more than 400,000 tonnes of recyclables potentially heading to landfill.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the government was working with the 31 councils that had contracts with SKM to look at alternatives for their kerbside recycling collections “should SKM no longer accept waste”.

“SKM's ongoing non-compliance is unacceptable and shows why we need to encourage new players into the recycling industry,” she said. “We know Victorians work hard to do the right thing when it comes to recycling, so sending recyclable materials to landfill is always a last resort.”

Acting Greens leader Tim Read called on the Andrews government to introduce a container deposit scheme and follow the steps taken by other Australian states and territories to help combat the unfolding crisis.

“You can’t sell a whole lot of co-mingled recyclables with pizza and nappies,” Dr Read said. “You need to sell clean and sorted plastic or glass - and a container deposit scheme achieves that in a very cost-effective way.”


Cleanaway Waste Management also called for a mandated level of recyclable materials to be used in infrastructure projects such as crushed glass for new roads.

It said many councils were not paying for recyclable material to be property sorted and processed, which would result in increased stockpiling of contaminated waste.”