I am pleased to bring you a good-news waste story in this issue of the Bulletin.
As most of you will know, after the collapse last year of the REDcycle program that collected soft plastics, our community has been without a recycling option for plastic bags and wrapping. Try as we might to avoid plastic packaging, there is inevitably some that makes its way into our households.
With no solution forthcoming from the Australian Government, Victorian Government or the packaging industry, we have stepped in as a Council to assist.
Our environmental sustainability team worked with Melbourne company APR Plastics to come up with a temporary drop-off service for our community. You can now take your soft plastics to collection points in Kew and Camberwell. APR Plastics collects the plastic weekly and converts it into an oil which is used to create new plastic products – the circular economy at work.
Now at my home, with our soft plastics set aside for drop-off, recyclables consigned to the yellow-lidded bin and food and garden waste to the FOGO bin, there is very little left for general waste.
However, while Council is pleased to do our bit for our community and the environment, this should not be an issue for local government to resolve. We need a service that is consistent across the state or nationally, allows for return to place of purchase and supports industry processing capacity. We call on the state and federal governments to step up and sort this out with a wider solution to keep soft plastics out of landfill.
In the following pages you can also read about the results of our Sustainable Actions Survey. They give an interesting insight into what others are doing day-to-day to live more sustainably. You might be inspired to try something new at your place.
Mayor of Boroondara