MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has joined 14 other councils in Melbourne’s south east to form a company to deliver an advanced waste facility to process household rubbish rather than bury it. It is all part of the state government’s new circular economy policy – Recycling Victoria: A New Economy whose target is to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030, with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2025.
The company, a so-called Special Purpose Vehicle called South East Metropolitan Advanced Waste Processing Pty Ltd, has its own legal identity. It will provide advanced waste processing on behalf of the councils in the biggest tender for this type of infrastructure ever undertaken in Melbourne.
The facilities, regulated by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria, are being used safely and reliably around the world, including in the UK, Europe, Asia and North America, the shire says.
The tender has been described as “historic” by the mayor Cr Despi O’Connor.
“By signing up to the SPV we are strengthening our ability to secure the economic, environmental, and social benefits from the facility,” she said.
“Advanced waste processing will do more with the resources that are being put in landfill and achieve better financial, environmental and social outcomes.
“Advanced waste processing is a great solution for household rubbish that would normally go to landfill.”
But Cr O’Connor warned that the shire will “still need to continue kerbside recycling and green and food waste collection services as part of a total approach to managing waste”.
See Victoria A New Economy at vic.gov.au
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 16 November 2021
