Dates for the diary

• 29 September — Local Government Waste Education Network (Ed Net) meeting
• 29 September — International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction
• 14 October — Metropolitan Local Government Waste Forum meeting

• 8-14 November — National Recycling Week 

Metro news

New contracts secure disposal of household waste for 30 metropolitan councils

New contracts—for 30 councils across Melbourne—have secured reliable disposal of Melbourne’s household waste to landfill. The contracts, negotiated by us as part of a collaborative procurement on behalf of the councils, are for four years, with two by two year options for extensions providing councils flexibility and service continuity.

Image, clockwise from top left: Dynon Road Waste Transfer Centre, credit - Citywide; Cleanaway South East Melbourne Transfer Station, credit - Cleanaway; Hanson Landfill, Wollert, credit - Hanson; Hallam Road Landfill, credit - Suez.

Progress on south east advanced waste processing procurement

In March 2020, we released an expression of interest for an alternative to landfill for councils in Melbourne’s south east. After a comprehensive evaluation process and solution development stage, the final procurement stage—call for final tender—is about to commence with the final tender expected to be released in November.

New guidance about food and green waste processing technology

Work is underway to prepare new guidance about food and green waste processing technology that councils and Waste and Resource Recovery Groups (WRRGs) will use to help procure services for household waste. The guidance will help councils and WRRGs understand the different technologies, processes and regulatory, commercial and market conditions that commercial processors need to consider to operate successfully.  

Tyre export changes discussed at Transfer Station Network meeting

The possible impacts of the Australian Government’s waste tyre export changes were discussed at last week’s Transfer Station Network meeting. Liam O’Keefe of Tyre Stewardship Australia joined the meeting to speak about the international tyre market and how the changes—commencing on 1 December 2021—will affect councils and transfer stations. Attendees also received an update on the Environment Protection Act regulations and guidance, the Combustible recyclable and waste materials guideline and heard about a Victorian based solar panel recycler. Find out more about the Transfer Station Network.  

Portfolio news

Educating Victorians on new four bin recycling services

Seventeen Victorian councils will share more than $1 million in grants to deliver education and behaviour change campaigns to their communities ahead of the transition to a four bin recycling service. The next funding round will be announced in 2022, with two more rounds to follow. Read the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change’s announcement.

Funding sustainable solutions for packaging waste

Grants of up to $50,000 are available to help businesses develop new ways to reduce, reprocess or remanufacture packaging waste, with total funding of over $450,000. The Investment Support Grant – Packaging Round 2 supports small and medium enterprises, not for profits and social enterprises to purchase equipment and infrastructure to enable and accelerate the diversion of packaging waste from landfill. Applications close at 11:59 pm, 30 September 2021. Find out more about the funding and apply.

Events and professional development

Forum meeting: advanced waste processing — 14 October

The next Metropolitan Local Government Waste Forum meeting will explore advanced waste processing and will feature technical and policy experts from Europe and Australia. It will help participants understand:

• the procurement MWRRG is leading on behalf of 16 councils in Melbourne’s south east
• the role of advanced waste processing within the waste hierarchy and as a strategic response to diverting waste from landfill
• how conventional waste to energy technology works
• how advanced waste processing facilities are regulated by the Environment Protection Authority to ensure community safety and environmental protection.

The meeting will be held online between 4-6pm, Thursday 14 October. If you are a Forum delegate and have questions about this event, please contact metro.forum@mwrrg.vic.gov.au.

Waste warriors

Council spotlight

Weird and wonderful waste news

Resource of the month

Commercial and industrial waste case studies

From an education campaign boosting food and green waste recycling at Queen Victoria Market, to replacing surf boards’ foam cores with recycled cardboard—these are some of the ways that businesses, government, and industry are diverting commercial and industrial waste from landfill.

Gather inspiration on how commercial and industrial waste can be repurposed into valuable commodities from case studies of our projects.  

Read Director Operations, Planning and People, Josephine Regel’s new blog about how we supported OzHarvest to divert 1.5 tonnes of food waste from landfill per month.

The Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan sets out four strategic objectives which underpin all of MWRRG’s activities:

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