Call for public opinion on Vic's e-waste ban

The community will have an opportunity to have their say with regards to a proposed ban on e-waste from landfill waste.

A public consultation has been launched by the Victorian Government to determine how the ban will be implemented.

In addition, the government has invested $16.5 million in measures to make the ban more effective.

This includes an education and awareness campaign, to educate Victorians about how and why they should recycle their e-waste, and new e-waste collection points to be installed across the state.

“Our plan to better manage e-waste will encourage safe management of hazardous materials and allow greater recovery of valuable materials, ultimately leading to a more stable industry and jobs for Victoria,” said Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio.

“The consultation process is important because we will need action from the community as well as recyclers and landfill managers to divert such a significant amount of waste from our landfills.”

E-waste includes any device that requires a power cord or a battery to operate and that is no longer wanted or useful, including phones, computers and computer accessories, and even kitchen equipment such as toasters.

It is growing three times faster than general waste with research showing that in 2015 some 109,000 tonnes of e-waste made its way into the Victorian waste system. Projections suggest Victoria will be producing 256,000 tonnes of e-waste by 2035.

Responsibly managing e-waste will help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and the negative impacts on our environment, provide safe management of hazardous materials and allow greater recovery of valuable materials.

The development of the waste management policies to ban e-waste from landfill and ensure appropriate management of e-waste is a joint project between DELWP and the Environment Protection Authority.

Victoria’s seven waste and resource recovery groups, which help to deliver waste and resource recovery programs around the state, will join with these other agencies to discuss the ban and the supporting measures with stakeholders.

A policy impact assessment and draft waste management policies that will give effect to the ban have now been released for public comment for three months, with the ban expected to be implemented by July 2018.

These documents are available at www.engage.vic.gov.au/waste/e-waste.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Bakaleev Aleksey

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