No waste to landfill
REDUCING the need to dump rubbish at landfill is the bold aim of a new Geelong council waste strategy.
City Hall’s aspirational bid is to achieve zero waste to landfill from all of council’s operations and services.
Their five-year blueprint will also support Geelong residents and businesses to achieve the same.
The two commitments will headline the new strategy, which is in the early stages of development.
It builds on the City of Greater Geelong’s pro-sustainability policy, which has seen it heavily invest in solar energy and urban tree plantings.
Last year the council outlined a plan to cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2020 and be carbon neutral before 2050.
Mayor Bruce Harwood said the zero landfill push was “an ambitious aim but one Greater Geelong is committed to achieving”. “It will require creative thinking, and for every- one to take individual responsibility for the waste they generate,” he said.
Cr Anthony Aitken said the new strategy was timely given the shockwaves sent through the industry by China’s ban on contaminated recyclables.
The fallout from the ban has hit council bottom lines across the country.
Geelong ratepayers are set to cop a 14 per cent hike in their waste charges in 2018-19, although part of that is due to the introduction of a new hard waste collection from April.
But Cr Aitken questioned the reality of removing all landfill, pointing to efforts in the progressive Scandinavian region where “6 to 8 per cent of waste can’t be recycled”.
The strategy update was provided to the council meeting on Tuesday night, where councillors agreed to begin a booked at-call hard waste service.
Residents will be entitled to one collection a year under the 12-month trial, which will later be reviewed. The initiative was an election commitment by multiple councillors.