Victorian waste and recycling sector insights

Presentation: Lorna Mathieson will present an overview of the market challenges facing Victoria and provide insight into the reforms required. In 2017, Victorians generated 14.4 million tonnes of waste, of this, 4.4 million tonnes were sent to landfill and 10.0 million tonnes (69%) recovered. Of this, the Victorian household collection system accounted for 2.23 million tonnes of the total waste generated with 1.2 million tonnes sent to landfill. 0.58 million tonnes were collected through the comingled collection system and 0.46 million tonnes of organic waste recovered.
With the recent tightening of controls by the Chinese Government and the collapse of SKM Industries, the Victorian Government stepped in to assist Victorian councils fund alternative processing contracts and announce an overhaul of the kerbside system

Speaker: Lorna Mathieson is Director of Recycling Sector Response in the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Following the collapse of SKM Recycling in mid-2019, the Victorian Government established the Recycling Sector Response branch to lead the implementation and delivery of a range of reforms with the aim to transform Victoria’s resource recovery sector and drive the strategic direction of major reform programs and projects to reform the sector and deliver priority government commitments.