The Australian Government has responded to the Senate Committee’s waste management inquiry report, which was tabled back in September 2008. One big developments during the 18-months it took to respond to the report has provided the government a convenient answer to most recommendations – the National Waste Policy will deal with it. The other fallback response is that waste is primarily the responsibility of individual state and territory governments.

The Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts Inquiry into the Management of Australia’s Waste Streams (including consideration of the Drink Container Recycling Bill 2008) was tabled on September 3, 2008 (see here for Inside Waste’s news coverage at the time).

The government’s response looks at each of the inquiry’s 18 recommendations. Seven of these were “noted,” six “agreed in principle” and five straight up “agreed”.

The Senate Committee recommended landfill levies be “applied across all jurisdictions…[and] calculated to include the full range of social and environmental externalities,” with levy revenue ploughed back into resource recovery initiatives and infrastructure “to the fullest extend possible”.

The government response was that these levy issues are “primarily the responsibility of individual state and territory governments,” and the attention of the relevant ministers has “been drawn to the recommendations” through the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC).

The recommendation that waste reduction targets “set in a sustainability context and based on rigorous analysis and sound science” be applied around the nation was mostly also handballed to the states, although the government did point out a key objective of the National Waste Policy is avoiding the generation of waste.

The government refers to the National Waste Policy in its response to 13 of the 18 recommendations.

At last November’s meeting, where the EPHC unveiled the National Waste Policy, ministers also announced in-principle support for a “strengthened Australian Packaging Covenant” to replace the National Packaging Covenant that is due to expire on June 30 this year.

The new covenant also features heavily in the government’s response to the senate inquiry. Agreeing that the EPHC should “undertake a cost-benefit analysis of glass in the kerbside recycling system” and consider alternative approaches, the government pointed out the new covenant will have a “greater focus on package design”.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) welcomed the government’s response to the recommendations, but CEO Kate Carnell said Australia’s kerbside and away-from-home recycling systems “represent excellent value for money and have achieved impressive results”.

“However, industry fully recognises that it has a much greater role to play to improve sustainable packaging, reduce litter rates and increase recycling across Australia,” she said.

“We are dedicated to increasing industry’s commitment and investments in these important areas - and we understand that industry has much more work to do in the future.”

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