IPWEA President Mat Greskie says recyclables must be kept out of landfill at all costs, as local governments and industry struggle with the effects of China’s import ban on recycled materials.

Greskie, who is the CEO of Tasmania’s award-winning Dulverton Waste Management, says allowing recycled materials to be dumped in landfill would undo decades of community education on recycling in Australia and New Zealand.

“We really just can't afford to take a huge backwards step here and start landfilling, even if it's for a short time,” he says.

“I think that would seriously undermine the community's confidence in recycling and it would be major setback that would take many years to again restore and build up that confidence.

“I think it's critical that we need to do the right thing in the short-term, even if that requires some stockpiling or whatever it may be. But, we can't let these materials go to landfill. We need to work quickly to come up with a long-term, sustainable solution.”

Greskie says local governments will need to decide whether to pass costs onto ratepayers or support the Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) in other ways.

“The reality will have to kick in at some point that these costs will have to be borne somehow. Each council has to make those decisions about whether they increase rates or do they cut other services. That will be for each council to determine how they're going to deal with these increased costs of operating,” he says.

He predicts councils will increasingly move away from fixed-price contracts with MRFs. 

“It just doesn't share the risk appropriately,” he explains.

Greskie is adamant that governments and industry need to be proactive in providing an end-market for recycled materials.

“It's all well and good to support recycling and put your product in the bin, but everybody needs to then look at how we can purchase products made from those recycled materials,” he says.

“We've got to give them an end-market. It’s absolutely critical that all organisations are prepared to buy back those recyclable materials to reuse in different projects and to give the things we put in our bin a second life, because otherwise we're just going to end up stockpiling indefinitely.

“This could be actually the once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a massive change in the way we deal with recyclable materials, and move away from putting them on a ship and sending them thousands of kilometres away to be dealt with. There's a chance for us to deal with them domestically. It's going to take a lot of work to get there, but it's not impossible.”