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Metro newsMWRRG welcomes new Circular Economy Bill and Recycling VictoriaThe Victorian Government has announced that from 1 July 2022, a new authority (Recycling Victoria) will oversee and regulate the state’s waste and recycling sector, following the introduction of the new Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Bill into Parliament on 27 October. MWRRG welcomes the introduction of the Bill containing new measures including a new authority, a container deposit scheme and kerbside reform. Waste and Resource Recovery Groups will continue to be an integral part of Victoria’s waste sector governance and ensure continuity of support as we transition to the new authority in 2022. Until then, our focus is on maintaining service delivery and ensuring we continue to deliver until Recycling Victoria commences operating. Melbourne councils form company to deliver advanced waste processing for household wasteCouncils in Melbourne’s south east have formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV)—a company with its own assets, liabilities and legal identity—to deliver new infrastructure to process household waste. The SPV—South East Metropolitan Advanced Waste Processing Pty Ltd—will transition to become the procuring entity for the advanced waste processing facility and will award the contract for the procurement before managing the contract for the ongoing operation of the facility. New guide to help businesses reduce and recycle food wasteOur new guide aims to help cafes, restaurants, and other hospitality and retail businesses to reduce costs by avoiding or recycling more of the 237,000 tonnes of food waste currently going to landfill. The guide follows the release of new figures, based on 433 audits in the food retail and hospitality sector, which shows a significant opportunity to cut costs by reducing or recycling up to 98% of food waste currently sent to landfill. Forum meeting explores waste to energy and its place in a circular economyWaste to energy is a proven, safe, reliable and accepted technology for processing household rubbish in Europe, the Metropolitan Local Government Waste Forum (Forum) heard earlier this month. Over 80 people attended the October Forum meeting to learn about how waste to energy is used in Europe, how the technology works, and how facilities are regulated. A panel discussion provided the opportunity for an informative and wide ranging discussion on how waste to energy can contribute to better waste management outcomes in Victoria. Recycling collaborative procurement—upcoming tender releaseMWRRG is leading a collaborative procurement to establish short term panel contracts for participating councils in the Metropolitan, Loddon Mallee, Barwon South West and Grampians Central West waste and resource recovery regions. The invitation to supply for the Recycling Collaborative Procurement panel contracts will be released through eProcure to the market in November 2021. Collaborating to grow great projects at Ed Net meetingOver 50 council officers joined us for a vibrant and interactive meeting of our council waste education network (Ed Net) last month. The meeting focussed on how councils, MWRRG and Sustainability Victoria can collaborate to ‘grow great projects’. Participants brainstormed ideas to successfully develop and support grant project proposals and contributed to newly funded Recycling Victoria projects for repairing items and recovering textiles. Nominations for waste awards announcedCongratulations to all finalists in the 2021 Waste Innovation & Recycling Awards. In particular Sabina Wills (Keep Victoria Beautiful), Susie McBurney (REMONDIS Australia), Ninna Larsen (Reground) and Larissa Rose (Glowing Green Australia), nominated for the Woman of Waste Award. We're sponsoring the Women of Waste Award to celebrate the contributions of women to reducing waste and increasing resource recovery as we shift towards a more circular economy. We’re proud to be an organisation where women are strongly represented—but we know more needs to be done to encourage women into the sector and celebrate their achievements. Portfolio newsDelivering Recycling Victoria—Waste and Resource Recovery Groups updateFrom digital workshops empowering residents to reduce food waste, to research to help councils deliver cost effective glass recycling for communities—find out what’s been happening around the state with the latest update from Victoria’s Waste and Resource Recovery Groups. Councils invited to apply for feasibility grants to boost circular economyThe second round of the Recycling Victoria Councils Fund—to assist in reducing the amount of waste going to landfill or increasing the volume of materials reused, repaired, repurposed or recycled—is now open. Sustainability Victoria (SV) is inviting councils and alpine resort management boards (ARMBs) to apply for funding under Stream 1: Feasibility. This stream will assist councils and ARMBs to explore circular economy solutions, scope project viability or establish business cases for future circular economy projects. We encourage metropolitan councils to contact us for assistance to discuss project ideas, review drafts and provide feedback on applications. If you would like assistance, email Manager Partnerships and Networks, Zandy Powell at zandy.powell@mwrrg.vic.gov.au. For enquiries about the grants, contact SV at grants.enquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au. Applications close Thursday 9 December 2021. Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund – Round 2 now openThe second round of the Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund is now open. There is $750,000 available across two funding streams to support collaborative projects between organisations that come together to minimise waste to improve environmental and economic outcomes for Victoria. Types of solutions that may be considered include:
Find out more on the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre’s website. Waste warriorPhil Robertson, City of Greater DandenongPassionate people make the world of waste go around. Each month, we profile a Waste Warrior – someone whose dedication to minimising waste and maximising resource recovery is helping make Melbourne a more sustainable and liveable place. This month, we feature Phil Robertson, who over the last 15 years, has made an enormous contribution to improving waste and recycling outcomes, not only within his own council, but across the region via MWRRG’s networks, the Forum, the Technical Advisory Reference Group (TARG), and the south east advanced waste processing project. Read more about how Phil found himself in waste, his proudest achievements, and hopes for the future. Council spotlightHubs and trailers making textile and e-waste recycling easy in WhitehorseConveniently placed clothing and electronic waste recycling hubs and trailers have proved popular with residents of the City of Whitehorse. Since their launch in March 2021, 9,568 kilograms of clothing and accessories and 2,688 kilograms of e-waste has been collected from the seven hubs and trailers. Weird and wonderful waste newsVictorian innovators design tram stops built with kerbside recyclingThis month we highlight a wonderful waste story right here in Victoria. Melbourne tram stops could soon be made from recycled rubbish. Monash University's Institute of Railway Technology, Yarra Trams, Integrated Recycling and Advanced Circular Polymer have received $300,000 from the Recycling Victoria Research and Development Fund – Materials to research the development of recycled plastic modular elements for tram stop platforms. Read about how our trams could soon be picking up passengers from stops made with recycled plastic collected from kerbside waste collections. If you have a weird or wonderful waste news story to share, please email web.editor@mwrrg.vic.gov.au. Resource of the monthAdvanced waste processing technical fact sheetHow does waste to energy work? How is it regulated in Victoria? Does it meet international safety standards? Find answers to these questions and more in our new advanced waste processing technical fact sheet. We strongly encourage councils to use the factsheet—and other factsheets available on the Smarter solution website—to help educate their residents about the advanced waste processing procurement currently underway in the south east of Melbourne. The Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan sets out four strategic objectives which underpin all of MWRRG’s activities: Reduce waste sent to landfill Deliver community environmental & economic benefits Increase organic waste recovered Plan for Melbourne’s growing population Copyright © 2021 Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group. All rights reserved. If you want to join our mailing lists, you can subscribe to any or all of our bulletins. If you are already on our mailing lists, you can also update your subscription preferences. This email was sent to [email address suppressed] |