RECYCLING ON VERGE OF COMEBACK

Council negotiating Cleanaway contract

THE return of recycling to the City of Greater Geelong is imminent, as the council negotiates a contract with Australia’s largest waste management firm.

The council confirmed it was in the midst of contract negotiations with Cleanaway Waste Management just hours after the group announced its acquisition of collapsed company SKM Recycling late last week.

Geelong ratepayers have now forked out more than $1 million to send 7500 tonnes of kerbside recycling to landfill this year, following the closure of SKM Recycling’s services — causing the Victoria-wide waste services crisis.

City of Greater Geelong acting city services director Shaun Broadbent confirmed the city was “currently in contract negotiations” with Cleanaway to end the ongoing crisis, which has seen Geelong’s kerbside recycling redirected to landfill since July.

“The city is involved in initiatives aimed at restarting kerbside recycling and importantly ensuring its longterm viability,” Mr Broadbent said.

“This includes the review of Victoria’s kerbside system and infrastructure, as well as development of the circular economy policy.

“These reviews and policy will provide direction for kerbside recycling and end markets.”

On Friday, Cleanaway confirmed cleaning was under way at the South Geelong recycling plant, formerly owned by SKM, paving the way for the start of recycling waste collection.

Cleanaway managing director Vik Bansal said last week that since the appointment of receivers and managers, significant progress had been made in clearing waste stockpiles from the (former SKM) sites.

Plant and equipment is being repaired and the sites are being brought up to national safety and environmental standards.

“We expect to gradually restore operations in Victoria over the coming months to provide councils with a quality, sustainable solution for their recycling,” Mr Bansal said.

The City of Greater Geelong had to introduce a series of solutions in a bid to ease the impact of SKM’s collapse.

“Since the closure of the SKM Recycling facility in South Geelong, the city has upgraded facilities at the Resource Recovery Centres and found end products for recyclables, so that residents can separate recyclable items and drop them off at marked bins,” Mr Broadbent said.

“Figures indicate that there has been an increase in visitor numbers to the centres.

“The city is finalising its own draft waste and resource recovery strategy. This strategy incorporates significant community and stakeholder feedback and will guide our overall waste and resource recovery programs.”

SKM collapsed in August with debts of more than $100 million.