Essay Sample on Australian Waste Management: Challenges and Stakeholders

Introduction

Waste management is a vital aspect of every country around the world. Countries without efficient standards and policies are facing a difficult moment in controlling the wastes. The Australian government has been facing a myriad of challenges in managing the wastes. This paper shall analyze the problems associated with waste management issues and the reasons for the change in waste management. Moreover, it is essential to identify and analyze the stakeholders involved in the policy problem of waste management in Australia and give solutions to the problems.

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Existing Problems and the Stakeholders Involved in Waste Management in Australia

Australia's waste management is in deeper crisis than ever before. The National Waste Policy that was enacted in 2009 to facilitate waste management in the state, federal and territorial governments has remained dysfunctional due to insufficient funding and attention. The wastes are accumulating into mountains of heaps, a sign that the waste management policy is in a desperate situation. The negligence of the federal government has forced the states such as Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales and the territorial governments to look for alternative ways of managing their wastes and they have ended up creating more problems due to insufficient resources (McKinnon, 2019). Australia' population has been growing rapidly its one contributing factors for the increase in waste. Most of the waste in Australia comes from households, commercial and industrials enterprises, and building and demolition waste. Half of the solid waste is household waste (Mackenzie, 2018).

Apart from importing the waste materials, some wastes are disposed of in illegal landfills. Over 6.2 million tonnes of wastes are sent to the landfills. More than 7000 tonnes of construction and demolition materials were sent into landfills between 2014 and 2015.

Waste management is a global problem that affects major cities and towns. Sustainable healthcare cannot be achieved without efficient waste management policies. Uncontrolled waste disposal endangers the ecological system such as the human beings, wild animals, air, soil, and water bodies (Blue Environment, 2018). Therefore, waste management is an important aspect of the sustainable development and growth of a country.

The Role of the Government in Waste Management

The country has been relying on the framework that is known as the 3RS plus 1, which means; reduce, reuse, recycle and recover energy. The system has received massive scholarly critics because of its emphasis based on the reuse and recycle of waste instead of providing a mechanism for waste avoidance. The waste hierarchy is another mechanism that the Australian government uses to minimize waste in Australia. The mechanism provides a framework that grades the most preferable solution of managing waste to the least preferable (MacKenzie, 2018). However, According to Graham (2019), most of the recyclables wastes in Australia is being stockpiled in warehouses and exported to South East Asian illegally opened facilities, where the wastes are dumped, buried or burned.

Also, the government has Australia has been relying on importation of recycling in countries such as China as a way of managing its waste in the country. However, at the beginning of the year of 2018, China's ban on importation of Australia's recyclable material sent the waste management regulating bodies into a tailspin. India, the fourth largest importer of Australian waste, also closed the door for exports for Australian waste. Through exporting of the recycling materials Australia expected to reduce about 619,000 tonnes out of 67 million tonnes that are generated per year. However, after China's and Indian move the recyclable waste has increased to more than 1.3 million tones. The company Australian recycling companies lack processing facilities (Graham, 2019). Currently, the recyclable waste is only exported in Indonesia Vietnam and Malaysia. States such as Victoria and Queensland impose heavy taxes to those dumping the wastes, a step that has not stopped illegal dumping and landfills (National Waste Policy 2018).

There is a vivid indication that there is no sustainable planning for waste management in Australia. If other countries impose a ban on Australia's waste imports, Australia will be forced to look for alternative domestic and foreign markets for its recyclable materials. The federal government must come up with long-term solutions that will ensure that all the stakeholders actively participate in waste management practices

Solutions to the Problems

It is possible to overcome waste management issues if the government is ready to provide draft policies that will guide individual behavior on the use and disposal of waste material. Reports by the Australian National Waste Report indicate that Australians have a genuinely ready to support sustainable waste and recycling waste frameworks. The rate of recycling waste in households has been increasing since the beginning of educational campaigns that helped people to understand the materials that can be recycled that those that cannot. The progress is a clear indication that the Australian people are diligent enough to follow rules if there are clear and mandatory rules and regulations (Graham, 2019).

Moreover, the lack of consistency in waste management among the states is a major problem. A clear framework from the federal government will ensure that every state and territory will adhere to the same rules and as a result, there will uniformity the waste management industry. Therefore, the federal government must provide both political support and policies that call for shared responsibility (McKinnon, 2019).

References

August 2019, http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/de91c360-1995-475cbc9f-f0c4c85b7692/files/improving-national-waste-data-and-reporting.pdf

Blue Environment. (2018). Improving national waste data and reporting, retrieved 28

Graham, B. (2019). 'I think most people in Australia feel lied to, I think they feel disappointed'. Retrieved 24 September2019,fromhttps://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/60-minutes-exposes-the-shocking-practices-behind-recycling-in-australia/news-story/8396c05b28cf97348515ea57ffc64444

MacKenzie, I. (2018). The recycling crisis in Australia: easy solutions to a hard problem. Retrieved 24 September 2019, from https://theconversation.com/the-recycling-crisis-in-australia-easy-solutions-to-a-hard-problem-95231

McKinnon, A. (2019). Our waste policy is rubbish | Alex McKinnon. Retrieved 24 September 2019, from https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2018/may/1525096800/alex-mckinnon/our-waste-policy-rubbish

National Waste Policy. (2018). Less Waste, More Resources. viewed 23 September 2019,https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/d523f4e9-d958-466b-9fd1-3b7d6283f006/files/national-waste-policy-2018.pdf