Rescue our Recycling
Campaign objective
Victorians are committed recyclers. We are great at it, but our recycling system is in crisis. Unsustainable levels of waste generation and market failure are the primary causes.
We have created an action plan setting out five key actions for each level of government to help save and strengthen our broken recycling system.
The plan identifies the need for stronger leadership and increased investment by governments, greater regulation of our recycling industry, and more responsibility placed on businesses to generate less waste.
Join the campaign
We encourage councils to take action:
- Write letters or meet with your local State and Federal MPs to brief them on how the crisis is impacting your community. Provide them with a copy of the Rescue Our Recycling Action Plan (PDF - 174.7KB)
- Issue a media release voicing your support for the Rescue Our Recycling Action Plan
- Use the #rescueourrecycling hashtag on social media alongside posts calling for action by #springst or #auspol in line with the applicable five point action plan
- Include the Rescue our Recycling logo on your website and in social media promotions: Logo package (Zip file - 2MB).
- Text equivalent of the Tips on how to reduce your environmental impact
About landfill levies
The Victorian Government charges a landfill levy on all waste disposed of at licensed landfills in Victoria. Councils pay the levy on municipal waste sent to landfill, with the cost passed through to ratepayers via garbage charges for kerbside collections, gate fees at landfills/transfer stations or rates.
In March 2010, the Government announced that it was substantially increasing landfill levies in order to provide the community with an incentive to improve their resource recovery. The cost per tonne in 2009-10 was $7 in rural areas and $9 in metropolitan areas, however this has risen progressively to $31.71 in rural areas and $63.28 in metropolitan areas in 2017-18. The levies continue to rise each year.
According to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning annual report, the income from municipal and industrial landfill levies in 2018 was $228.9 million. After funding State environment agencies, the remaining $80 million of the levies went into the Sustainability Fund to foster sustainable use of resources, best practice waste management and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The total money accrued in the Sustainability Fund as at 30 June 2018 was $511 million.
Our advocacy
- Submission to Circular Economy Issues paper (9 August 2019)
- MAV response to SKM recycling story (15 Jul 2019)
- Reiterating the roadmap to rescue our recycling system (15 Jul 2019)
- MAV Opinion Editorial - What the e-waste ban means for you (8 Jul 2019)
- Submission to Parliamentary Inquiry into Recycling and Waste Management (6 June 2019)
- Big infrastructure spend fails to deliver for our recycling system (27 May 2019)
- Victorian Government announces recycling reviews (4 Apr 2019)
- Rescue Our Recycling Action Plan launched (7 Mar 2019)
- MAV Opinion Editorial - Recycling crisis: State and National leadership and action urgently needed (24 Feb 2019)
- MAV media release - Recycling industry volatility continues (15 Feb 2019)
- Submission to National Waste Policy update (Oct 2018)
- MAV Opinion Editorial - Recycling crisis was a wake-up call (6 Oct 2018)
- Time to action wasted landfill levy opportunities (27 Jul 2018)
- Submission on Product Stewardship Act review (Jun 2018)
- Recycling storm to have cost of living impacts (16 Feb 2018)
- Submission on reducing the impacts of plastics on the Victorian environment (Word - 139KB) (Jan 2018)
- Submission on managing e-waste in Victoria (Word - 317KB) (Jan 2018)
- VAGO to investigate landfill levy (9 Jun 2017)
- Background paper: Landfill levies and the Sustainability Fund (Word - 122KB) (May 2017)
- Wasted opportunity on landfill levy spending (4 May 2017)
- Submission to the Sustainability Fund Priority Statement review (Word - 308KB) (Dec 2015)
- Response to EPA Inquiry discussion paper (PDF - 421KB) (Nov 2015)
- State landfill levies - what a waste! (29 Oct 2015)