More of Victoria’s garden clippings and food scraps will be turned into compost instead of creating greenhouse pollution under a $9 million plan announced recently by the Victorian Environment Minister, John Thwaites. Speaking at Natural Recovery Systems in Dandenong, Minister Thwaites, said the $9 million over three years would support Local Governments and green processors to invest in more sophisticated green waste recycling facilities.
“Victorians are great recyclers, but ten per cent of the waste that now goes to landfills is green waste that can be recycled into compost and energy,” he said. “It is a waste not to recycle this material, especially when it is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases which is causing climate change.
“When organic material is disposed in landfill, it emits methane that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. One tonne of green waste processed saves nearly one third of a tonne of greenhouse gas emissions.”
“This $9 million injection through EcoRecycle Victoria will encourage industry and councils to take rapid steps towards more sophisticated and cleaner green waste recycling.”
Minister Thwaites said the success of the green waste recycling industry hinged on the quality of the end products.
“We are encouraging councils and industry to move to more advanced technologies in the processing of green waste to become viable products like mulch and compost, or conversion to energy.
“This will also mean huge windfalls for the environment, as an increase in green waste processing will see drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and less waste going into the environment. There is growing demand from households and industry to recycle green waste. We need to meet this demand by fostering a growing and stable industry.”
The Minister commended the City of Greater Dandenong for being the first council to adopt advanced technologies for processing green wastes, and receive funding under the EcoRecycle program.
