Related Policies
Policy
Significantly reduce Australia's waste production, and increase its recycling and energy recovery through a circular economy.
"At least $10bn (£7.9bn) worth of gold, platinum and other precious metals are dumped every year in the growing mountain of electronic waste that is polluting the planet..." The Guardian
Policy Methods (Federal & State)
To help achieve this Sustainable Australia Party will:
- Transition Australia to a zero-waste society as soon as practicable
- Achieve better product design and standards to reduce materials usage, and improve warranties, longevity, repairability, re-usability and recycling capacity, including:
- Phasing out products that cannot be recycled, repaired or re-used
- Banning single use plastics
- Extend the repair and waste management responsibility of manufacturers and retailers for their products, including whitegoods and furniture
- Establish a regional network of major factory-like centres dedicated to the repair, re-use and responsible recycling of electronic waste, household goods and other consumer goods, as well as a smaller repair café in every suburb and town in Australia under the Environmental Job Guarantee (also see Job Guarantee policy)
- Mandate national uniform arrangements for residential waste bin categories
- Ensure local councils provide a recycling bin next to every general waste bin in Australia
- Provide widely available container deposit schemes
- Adopt a national battery recycling scheme
- Ban the process of burning plastic waste into energy or the export of plastic waste for this purpose
- Maintain a ban on the importation of nuclear waste
- Stabilise Australia’s population size as soon as practicable (also see Population & immigration (Australia) policy)
"Until recently, the landfill site, located in a quarry, was receiving about 500,000 tonnes of rubbish a year...within the next decade it will receive 1 million tonnes of rubbish a year." The Age
