“We are now at a crossroads. Australia is currently ranked about 17th in the world for recycling, and recycling rates are stagnant,” the council says. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video “And China has now stopped taking substantial amounts of material. That’s why we are taking charge of making change.” In the 10-point plan, the council calls for appropriate landfill levies in each state, which would increase over time, to provide an incentive to recycle. Landfill levies are inconsistent across each state. As of 2017 the metro levy ranged from $138.20 per tonne in NSW to no levy in Queensland, which led to thousands of tonnes of rubbish from NSW being dumped in Queensland landfills. (Queensland will introduce a levy of $70 per tonne early next year.)

Queensland waste trucks dump unprocessed construction waste from NSW at Cleanaway's New Chum landfill in Ipswich. Credit:Mark Solomons The council says $1.5 billion from these waste levies should be invested into recycling, including meeting the unfunded costs of kerbside recycling and enhanced sorting and reprocessing of recyclable material. “Independent reports show that domestically remanufacturing 50 per cent of the material formerly sent to China leads to some 500 jobs here and reduces greenhouse gases equivalent of 50,000 less cars,” the council says. The council also calls for fast-tracking an accountable method of “product stewardship”, where companies are responsible for the ultimate fate of their products. It wants an immediate ban on batteries and electronic waste, such as televisions and computers, going to landfill. (Victoria will ban e-waste to landfill from July 1 next year.)

E-waste: masses of discarded computers and televisions at a recycling plant. Credit:Jenny Evans It also believes local government rangers should be able to fine households and businesses for contaminating recycling streams in the same way they can for littering and illegal dumping. The council also calls for a different tax level for products that contain recycled materials and for more energy – such as electricity or fuel – to be recovered from residual waste. “Now is the time – in light of China – for recycling to have more domestic capability,” said Australian Council of Recycling CEO Pete Shmigel. “It’s increasingly rare to have local manufacturing and its benefits – and rebooted recycling is such an opportunity.”

The 10-point plan comes as a survey reveals two-thirds of Australians believe many recyclables put into council bins go to landfill. Two thirds of Australians surveyed believe recyclables from council bins end up in landfill. Credit:Graham Tidy The survey was released by the University of NSW almost a year after China announced it would ban the import of recyclable plastic and paper with contamination levels above 0.5 per cent, sending shockwaves around the world. The ban has affected about 99 per cent of the recyclables Australia previously sent to China, most of which was cardboard. But David Cocks from waste experts MRA Consulting Group said there was no evidence of large-scale dumping of recyclables to landfill.

“It still makes economic sense to recycle even in the current economic conditions,” he told Waste Expo Australia last week. He said Australia was continuing to export some recyclables to south-east Asia but these markets had been flooded as a result of the China ban, resulting in a dramatic drop in commodity prices. The price of mixed plastic had dropped from an average of $250 a tonne to $50 a tonne. Since China introduced its import restrictions, known as the National Sword policy, the cost to Australian councils of collecting kerbside recycling had risen by an average $31 per household a year. This cost had been subsidised by some states but the approach had been not been consistent across jurisdictions. “We are seeing materials stockpiled to ride out those lower commodity prices,” Mr Cocks said.

The fire at the SKM plant in Coolaroo where tonnes of recycling had been stockpiled. Credit:MFB Stockpiled recycled material poses a fire risk, with two fires breaking out at a recycling plant in Melbourne's Coolaroo, most recently in July. Mr Cocks said that in the midterm Australia needed to develop its glass and plastic reprocessing capacity, governments needed to introduce purchasing policies to increase demand for recycled materials, and container deposit schemes should be introduced in all states.