Victoria’s peak environment group is once again putting the spotlight on wasteful packaging with the launch of the annual DUMP Awards.
This year, Environment Victoria is asking members of the public to help by nominating products which are either unnecessarily packaged, packed in many layers of wrapping, made up of unrecyclable materials or misleading in their disposal messages.
The DUMP (Damaging and Useless Materials in Packaging) Awards are supported by the Boomerang Alliance, a national coalition of environment groups and local government, campaigning for greater producer responsibility to reduce waste going to landfill and improve product and packaging design.
Categories include:
A GOLD DUMP Award is given to the package which commits multiple offences against the Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging.
A panel of independent experts has been assembled from academia, local government and consultancies to take part in a three month study to examine emerging or recent trends in packaging waste.
Environment Victoria’s Zero Waste Campaign Director Jenny Henty said:
“Packaging waste either ends up as litter in our streets and waterways, or adds to the 17.4 million tonnes of rubbish dumped in Australian landfill each year.”
“We pay for the disposal of this packaging – both at the check-out and through our rates, as local government subsidises the clean up and recycling of packaging waste. It’s time brand owners and supermarkets which profit from these products took more responsibility for the packaging waste they create.
“We need to have packaging which takes the environment into account.”