Waste

The Tasmanian Greens believe that proper waste management is a matter of social, environmental and economic urgency. Good waste management policy should deliver cleaner land, water and oceans by reducing litter and toxins in the environment.

The recovery and recycling sectors offer massive economic and social opportunities for Tasmania in the form of investment in new recycling processes, and regional employment growth.

We believe that those responsible for the generation of waste should be responsible for the real cost of waste management.

The Greens believe that non-biodegradable plastics and micro-plastics present a threat to ocean ecology and require further research and attempts to better deal with plastic wastes, which lead to their creation.

Measures

State Waste Strategy

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. introduce a state strategy to improve waste reduction awareness, and also the recovery, recycling, transport, handling, use, storage and disposal of waste products;

  2. create a State Waste Policy, under the State Policies and Projects Act 1993, that is appropriately resourced and would support research into waste minimisation and management, attract investment into resource recovery and the recycling industries, and assist local governments with diversion and landfill management;

  3. develop world’s best practice of solid waste management on land and in the marine environment, as part of the State Waste Policy.

Container Deposit Legislation

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. introduce state-based container deposit legislation for Tasmania which seeks to alter community behaviour via education and by attributing a value to resources currently regarded as valueless waste;

  2. ensure that deposit legislation puts the financial onus for resource recovery on those who produce the waste, rather than on local ratepayers.

Waste Levy

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. implement a waste levy to reduce landfill and promote recycling, as well as assist to fund further waste reduction and recovery programs, as similar levies contribute in other states.

Education

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. establish programs to inform the whole community about all areas of waste management and the necessity for positive community involvement;

  2. introduce, resource and publicise schemes where the diversion from the solid waste stream, and sorting of items into classification, occurs at the source of the waste, principally households and businesses.

Resource Recovery

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. promote waste as a marketable resource;

  2. mandate that resource recovery and recycling facilities be a feature of all landfill sites, minimising such sites;

  3. ensure that such facilities, whilst self funded, be paid a management fee based on materials recovered;

  4. remove organics from landfill or capture methane for power.

Government

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. initiate a whole-of-Government strategy which preferences recycled products whenever purchasing contracts are negotiated;

  2. introduce mandatory recycling of waste products from Government departments.

Better Sewage Management

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. legislate to increase penalties for the illegal dumping of chemical contaminants in sewerage and stormwater systems;

  2. increase the monitoring, enforcement and maximum penalties for sewage spills.

Litter

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. introduce a public education campaign to alert the population to the current penalties for littering;

  2. increase levels of monitoring and enforcement.

Hazardous waste

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. implement more stringent standards for the storing, handling and disposal of hazardous waste;

  2. legislate against the importation, use or storage of highly toxic substances, including nuclear waste.

Extended Producer Responsibility

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. legislate to mandate full Extended Producer Responsibility [EPR] in Tasmania after discussion with stakeholders regarding an appropriate model;

  2. ensure that EPR involves waste producers taking full responsibility for the environmental impact of their products from design to the post-consumer stage; cradle-to-the-grave.

Contaminated Sites

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. audit all past and present landfill sites in Tasmania prior to establishing a register of contaminated sites;

  2. allow public access to this register as a matter of urgency.

Plastic Contamination

The Tasmanian Greens will work to:

  1. implement world’s best practice of solid waste management on land and at sea;

  2. reduce the reliance on plastics and products which contain micro-plastic particles.

The full policy is available for download below.