About Victoria's Waste Policy Review
Several reviews have shown that Victoria’s waste policy framework was not meeting its expected aims, with many economic opportunities going unrealised. Such reviews include:
- The Victorian Auditor General’s performance audit into Municipal Solid Waste Management (June 2011)
- The Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission’s report A Sustainable future for Victoria: Getting Environmental Regulation Right (2009) which led to the review of State Environment Protection Policies (SEPPs)
- The Victorian Ombudsman’s Brookland Greens Estate – Investigation into Methane Gas Leaks (2009)
Given these reviews, and that Victoria's previous waste policy Towards Zero Waste, was due to sunset in 2014, the Minister Announced the need to review Victoria's waste policy on 5 March 2012.
Minister announces review of Victorian Waste Policy on 5 March 2012.
The Waste Policy Review has primarily focused on:
- The strategic, legislative, institutional and investment settings that influence the nature and performance of waste management, and
- Solid municipal waste, commercial and industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste.
Waste Policy Review Engagement
Hearing from our stakeholders was an important part of making sure the new policy delivered strong environmental, social and economic outcomes. The Victorian Government released a Discussion Paper, and DEPI and portfolio partners ran extension engagement during March and April 2012.
Discussion Paper
[PDF File - 1.0 MB]
Discussion Paper (web accessible version)
[RTF File - 344.9 KB]
More than 400 people attended one of 17 Waste Policy Review workshops run across the state. These workshops, along with feedback receieved in submissions in response to the Discussion Paper, helped to inform the development of the Draft Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy.
Draft Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy
Following extensive research and analysis of the issues identified during consultation, the Draft Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery was developed and released on 29 October 2012.
The draft policy outlined a practical and integrated path for the management of waste to protect human health and the environment, and to drive productive resource use by recovering and recycling discarded materials that still have economics value.
The draft policy also set goals and strategic directions that aimed to help industry, local government and the community be clear about their roles and responsibilities.
Draft Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy
[PDF File - 1.6 MB]
Draft Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy (accessible version)
[MS Word Document - 380.0 KB]
Submissions in response to this draft policy were recieved from 91 stakeholders, which assisted in developing the final policy, Getting full value: the Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy.
Lessons learnt from VARRI
While the former Victorian Advanced Resource Recovery Initiative (VARRI) project has concluded, some important lessons were learnt which will be considered as part of the Waste Policy Review.
A summary highlights the projects findings, insights, methods of analysis and gaps and is available here on the DEPI website.
Lessons learnt from Victorian Advanced Resource Recovery Initiative (VARRI)
[PDF File - 517.6 KB]
Lessons learnt from VARRI - accessible version
[RTF File - 187.0 KB]