Demand that Daniel Andrews immediately brings in policies to STOP 'SINGLE USE PLASTICS' ie he needs to mandate that companies label ALL PACKAGING with a recycling symbol and it's appropriate number that is LEGIBLE. We stopped the use of single use shopping bags, now we need to take it further, much further.

We need recycling plants built around the state of Victoria. This will create jobs in the building of these plants and ongoing jobs in running the plants. This should be an Australia wide issue, as the whole of Australia has recycling problems; but at this point in time recycling is a state by state / territory issue. 

There are many companies / organisations who run individual recycling programs, but do we know who they are and what they do. For instance, we all know about the soft plastic recycling that we take to our supermarkets, which are then turned into other plastic products such as benches. Some 'not for profit' organisations are researching other types of products that our plastics can be turned into, but we need to make Daniel Andrews and the legislators committed to this. Plastics can be turned into items like children's' cubby houses, fence posts (which will be needed in the immediate future to rebuild all the fencing that the bushfires have destroyed). Plastics can also be used in the making of roads, so our local councils also have to get on board, as they are often the ones responsible for building and repairing roads. How often do you see a particular part of a road that needs constant repair?

If plastics can be recycled into other plastics then there's no need to produce any NEW plastics at all. The plastics that have already been produced are still around so they should just keep getting recycled over and over. Plastics are made from raw materials like natural gas, oil or plants. Reusing the plastics that have already been produced would also limit the amount of raw materials that are being mined, which would also help the environment, marine life, oceans, etc.

Legislation needs to be introduced to make companies use LESS PACKAGING and  produce only recyclable packaging, and to make these companies just as responsible for the end use of all packaging. Just imagine a company like Coca Cola being made responsible for collecting and recycling all their bottles and cans. This is the only way we will start to solve our recycling issues. 

We've been told that the main contaminant in our recycling is glass. Coles supermarkets already have a system in place to collect glass, (in their supermarket at Fountain Gate in Narre Warren Victoria, see picture at the top) they currently have a 4 bin system - rubbish, soft plastics, paper & cardboard and bottles & cans. When I spoke to a staff member about this I was told that the bottles & can section wasn't used. WHY NOT? This would solve the problem for recycling our glass and households wouldn't need an extra kerbside bin. After all supermarkets and their liquor stores are probably the places that we get most of our glass packaging from, so make them responsible for collecting it. Of course the deposit / refund system would also make a huge impact.

I've written to Coles and various Members of Parliament on this issue but I only ever get the usual type of response, and that is that they are doing all they can do make changes and they are concerned about recycling. IF THEY WERE SO CONCERNED THEY WOULD BE IMPLEMENTING CHANGES NOW, AND NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT THEM.

WE'VE MANAGED TO STOP THE USE OF 'SINGLE USE PLASTICS' NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN RECYCLING. There are products out there NOW that have come from recycled items - the square plastic bread tag is recycled by Transmutation in South Australia and made into other plastic items, such as bowls, and as an added bonus the money they pay to buy the plastic bread tags goes to purchase wheelchairs. So with research we can probably turn our plastic waste into almost anything AND if these are no longer of use, this bowl, made from plastic bread tags, can be recycled over and over again. 

WE NEED TO MAKE OUR GOVERNMENTS AND LEGISLATORS LISTEN TO US AND TO ACT NOW, because our manufacturers and companies will not unless they are forced to by changes in the law. We also need to create new markets for these new recycled plastics. How good would you feel knowing that a bowl, a photo frame, children's toys, your garden furniture and such was made from recycled plastic.

Let's not forget that we will be keeping all this out of landfill. After all most of our landfill sites have been filled so it's costing our local councils (in other words us the ratepayers) more to transport our waste further and further away. Whereas having recycling plants nearer to hand ensures transportation costs are lower.