The Australian government currently awards clean and renewable energy subsidies and grants to establish waste to energy incineration projects in Australia.Yet this industry emits more ghg's and toxic air pollutants than coal, oil and gas. In addition, residual municipal, commercial, industrial, construction and demolition wastes are not renewable materials, but rather are predominantly single use, non recyclable plastic, which is a fossil fuel based material. Burning waste for energy can never produce clean nor renewable energy.  

The Australian government is wrong to regard waste as a renewable resource for energy production and award millions of dollars to assist the industry to establish in Australia while such scarce funds should be going to proven renewable energy projects like wind, solar and wave energy projects.

Burning waste for energy supports a linear model of materials production, consumption and disposal which is a major driver of climate change, resource depletion, toxification of the global environment and the violation of human rights and environmental injustices this brings. 

Australia needs to move to a sustainable Zero Waste management system and Circular Economy where finite resources are not discarded but reused and recycled back into our materials production systems, closing the loop and creating many more jobs and local economies than the waste incineration sector . 

Our planet has been permanently harmed by plastic waste pollution. We can see the damage all around us. But burning plastic waste doesn't make this problem go away. It just transfers it into the atmosphere and global environment as toxic air pollutants and hazardous ash wastes, some of which bio-accumulate and bio-magnify through our environment and the food web, forever. 

Australia is at a cross roads on waste management. The international recycling industry is in crisis and Australia can no longer dump its residual waste, contaminated recyclables and plastic waste in South East Asia.

Australia needs to step up, like Europe, and implement a sustainable zero waste and circular economy agenda. Australia needs to recognise (just like the EU) that waste to energy incineration can never produce clean, renewable energy and that it has undermined the recycling industry and stifled new, innovative, non combustion technologies that deliver better outcomes for residual waste management.

We, the undersigned, therefore demand an end to all renewable and clean energy subsidies for the waste to energy incineration industry.