Page 3254 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 18 August 2009
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increased by 315 per cent. The amount of waste going to landfill decreased by 27 per cent and in the 2005-06 financial year, the rate of resource recovery peaked at 75 per cent. Those figures were great. The ACT was a waste policy pioneer. The no waste goal was visionary and it attracted international respect.
More than 250 communities, local governments and state governments have now declared zero waste policies. Community groups formed around the no waste goal. Even international businesses such as Toyota and DuPont signed on to the zero waste concept. That is in the past. Unfortunately, the last few chapters of our waste history have been bleaker. The ACT appears to be retreating from the no waste goal. Its funding of waste strategies has waned. It has stopped pursuing the new necessary waste initiatives that will bring us into the future. In this situation the government justly deserves some scrutiny and criticism. We do not want the ACT to fall to the back of the pack.
To begin, take a look at the waste reduction figures. Since our 75 per cent waste recovery peak, the rate of diversion from landfill has fallen. Last year the rate was two per cent lower. More waste is now going to landfill. Despite this, this year’s budget paper shows that the government has settled for a business-as-usual approach. Instead of changing its practices to overcome the hurdles, it has set the same waste target. This is a figure derived by looking at the current figures being achieved. In fact, the government’s waste diversion targets have also declined. In 2007-08, it was 77 per cent. It has decreased to 75 per cent and stayed there.
The Chief Minister has pointed out that the budget figures reflect the department’s estimation of what it can achieve based on government funding. So the question is: what priority has the government given to waste reduction through its budget funding? The answer is: not a lot. Funding has dipped in recent years. Contrast this to the warning given by the authors of the independent review of the no waste strategy that the government commissioned in 2008. It stated:
… faced with growing total quantities of wastes … it is an unacceptable expectation that the ACT Government can consider reducing, or even containing at current levels, the recurrent budget …
The review also said that government budget data has considerably under-forecast the demand for forward capital expenditure in waste management. But nothing changed in this year’s budget. The funding will not get us to where we need to go. It is not just environmental reasons that can tell us to aim at zero waste. These strategies will lead to wonderful long-term economic and social impacts. The earlier we invest in resource recovery, the greater the rewards will be.
The independent review commission established by the government agrees. It analysed the costs and benefits of waste reduction efforts and concluded that the net benefit will be the greatest if the government makes efforts to increase recovery beyond 90 per cent. The Greens certainly agree that waste recovery must increase to these kinds of numbers. We want the community to enjoy the environmental, employment and intergenerational rewards that come with this increase.
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