Composting announcement leaves 75,000 truckloads of food waste in landfill.

2018-08-02

Huong Truong, Greens spokesperson on waste welcomes today’s announcement by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg, on composting food waste.

However, the announcement ensures 75,000 truckloads of food waste will still end up in landfill, and raises concerns that the announced cost is six times more of comparative facilities.

On Thursday the Minister is due to announce a new $65 million dollar composting plant in Dandenong South, built by Spanish waste management giant Sacyr and partially financed with a $38 million loan from the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Quotes attributable to Huong Truong,

“Victoria landfills a staggering 887,000 tonnes worth of food waste every year – the equivalent of almost 90,000 trucks.

“The Greens welcome investment in diverting food waste from landfill, but when this new facility comes online Victoria will continue to landfill around 75,000 truck loads of food waste every year. When should we expect investment that addresses the scale of the problem?

“$65 million dollars should be enough to build three plants or more. That raises the question why is this one so expensive and where is the money going?

“It’s no surprise the areas that will directly benefit from this investment include three marginal seats, meanwhile Melbourne’s West remains home to some of the world’s largest rubbish dumps”

 

Huong Truong MLC