The Issue
3 Problems


#1 Increase in waste
#2 No value in waste
#3 Complexities of processing/recycling waste

Problem #1

Increasing waste to landfill


Melbourne’s growing population means we are
sending more and more rubbish to landfill every year.




Growth in household waste collection
New landfills required
Landfill levy rise from $66 to $126 per ton
Environmental & social impacts
Increased costs to councils per year

Problem #2

No value in waste




63,871 kilo tons waste generated in Australia (2014-2015)
17,745 kilo tons hazardous waste
58% recycled or to energy recovery, 42% sent to landfill
Greater diversity rates/types of hazardous and non hazardous

Problem #3

Complexities of recycling - The 4 C's




01
Contaminated

Items needs to be cleaned using energy and water.

02
Co-Mingled

Landfill is co-mingled and it’s uneconomic to sort.

03
Cross Linked

More difficult and energy intensive to recycle.

04
Co-Extruded

Least understood and uneconomic to separate layers.

Example Problem - Plastic Bottles


  • Too complex, energy intensive and expensive to separate due to:
    - The fact that they are constructed from different plastics
    - Mixed melt flows
  • Plastic bottles take over 400 years to decompose
  • Globally humans buy 1 million plastic bottles per minute
  • 7 out of 10 bottles aren’t recycled
  • Environmental impacts of plastics in the environment
  • By 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic than fish by weight

Over
1 trillion

bottles purchased
per year

91% Plastics

Not recycled


1 bottle = 3 different plastics

LDPE

Low Density Polyethylene

PET

Polyethylene Terephthalate

PP

Polypropylene

The Solution

Reform not Recycle