Mounds of invaluable waste materials are piling up in East Bendigo as a recycling company continues to grapple with the financial cost of China’s import ban earlier this year.
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Waste management and recycling company JJ Richards and Sons in February took over the facility in Piper Lane, and its general manager in Victoria Simon Mackie said the firm has to stockpile material to an extent given its decline in value since January.
“We have to stockpile to move it cost-effectively,” he said.
Current levels were not a concern or a fire risk, according to Mr Mackie, who said the company had material from the previous owner, Endeavour Foundation.
Read more: Waste services resume, issues remain
China’s decision to ban plastics and recyclable material from January 1 sent shockwaves through the Victorian industry as costs to collect, process and recycle the material increased across the board.
The result has been a waste charge increase of 11 per cent in the City of Greater Bendigo’s draft budget 2018-19, with recycling costs expected to spike by $25 per household.
JJ Richards and Sons’ facility sorts materials collected from ratepayers’ bins, bales it and sends it out as a product, but as Mr Mackie explained, the value of the material had dropped to such an extent that it’s had a significant impact in revenue.
“The value has significantly declined to the point where its now a negative number,” he said.
“It's had an impact on being able to get rid of the material.”
The state government announced a $13 million interim package to support councils and industry in the wake of China’s decision.
However Victoria’s Waste Management Group Association chief executive Peter Anderson told Fairfax Media the money had merely bought a few months' grace, as well as shielding households from the crisis.
"The $13 million isn’t for innovation, it’s to compensate councils because they can’t put their rates up to cover the increased cost of waste management," Mr Anderson said.
A “cradle to grave” form of legislation, whereby a company had final responsibility for the packaging they produced, would drive companies to reconsider what materials they were using, according to Mr Mackie.
“It all comes down to a drive to actually need the product within Australia,” he said.
Ultimately the cost would be shifted to the community, Mr Mackie said, which was evidenced in the council’s recent budget.