Waste and recycling
The Greens have been key to reducing waste in Victoria, with Labor banning plastic bags when facing a by-election against the Greens, and the Greens initiating an inquiry which led to the 10 cent refund on bottles and cans.
But Labor’s approach is to support building toxic waste-to-energy incinerators all over Victoria.
These literal dumpster fires commit councils to supply massive amounts of waste for decades, and compete against recycling. Incinerator plans are popping up around Victoria, sparking strong local protest campaigns. But the Labor Government is refusing to act, even when its own MPs have joined the protestors.
The Greens want to do things differently, stopping unnecessary plastics in the first place and investing in recycling better.
Explore our plan for Waste and recycling
- Get a soft plastics recycling scheme up and running again
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Victorians loved it when we could take our soft plastics for recycling. But previous schemes lacked local processing infrastructure and end product demand, resulting in flammable stockpiles.
The Greens will investigate how to develop a soft plastics recycling scheme which turns plastics into needed products, doesn’t result in huge stockpiles and doesn’t use toxic technologies like pyrolysis.
- Get rid of more single-use plastics
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The first step to sending less stuff to landfill is not making unnecessary plastic and packaging in the first place.
The Greens will ban more single-use plastics, like bread tags, soy sauce fish, coffee cups, produce bags and fruit and veg stickers.
We will also ban giving out disposable cups, etc., to people who are dining in, and unnecessary plastic wrapping of items for sale.
- Make it a 20 cent refund on bottles and cans, and include more
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The Greens want to see the refund on bottles and cans increased from 10 cents to 20 cents to encourage more people to participate, the scheme expanded to include wine and spirit bottles, and better access to refund sites.
- Ban waste-to-energy incinerators
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Successive governments have neglected waste reduction for decades and the Labor Government’s solution is… burning it in giant dirty waste incinerators all across Victoria.
These incinerators belch out toxic pollution and lock councils into decades-long contracts that require ever-increasing piles of waste that should have been recycled – the opposite of a circular economy.
Burning our waste can be more emissions-intensive than coal and is the last thing our climate needs right now.
So the Victorian Greens are calling for an immediate moratorium on waste incineration projects.
- Make it easier to reuse
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The Greens will make it easier to reuse, by supporting schools to increase reuse of school uniforms, and op-shops that specialise in particular products like baby equipment, tested household appliances, and sports gear.
We also want to see reuse strategies developed for items like secondhand furniture and single-use medical products that can be sterilised and reused.