Green future COUNCIL ELECTION
A plan to abandon landfills in little more than a decade would be a bold step forward
The days of landfill appear numbered if Mayor Tom Tate is re-elected. Mr Tate has unveiled his plans to fast forward the building of an Advanced Resource Recovery Centre (ARRC) in the Yatala-Stapylton area.
The ARRC could cost up to $2bn and was inspired by Mr Tate’s 2022 visit to the a $1.1bn waste-toenergy facility in Dubai.
The project is being touted as a critical recycling step for the City saving more than $1.8bn across a 30-year period.
“I want to see an end to landfill on the Gold Coast. Under my vision, our existing landfill sites will be the last sites ever commissioned in our city,” Mr Tate explained.
“We will move to a zero-landfill future in around 12 years, once these sites have reached their endof-life.”
The fate of the city’s remaining landfill has been an issue bubbling away in the background for years but, until now, little policy work has been done in this area.
But with it becoming more pressing, the time for councillors to act is now.
While not the most immediate issue facing the city, the timeframe and funding needed to deliver this kind of infrastructure necessitates it moving to the fore.
It’s a bold step for Mr Tate, who has been relentlessly prodevelopment during his time in office, yet is also highlighting his green credentials.
He’s not the only one. Candidates across the board are pushing green policies in their campaigns including mayoral challenger Gary Pead who wants to eliminate waste.
Division 10 candidate Mona Hecke meanwhile wants to focus on greening up the streets in builtup areas like Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.
“I think this can be achieved by reintroduction of requirements for landscaping, with deep planting, at the front,” she said.
It is critical that whoever is elected mayor on March 16 balance development with keeping a large portion of the city green, while also dealing with our future waste issues.
While costing billions, it is this kind of spending, like that in past decades on stormwater drains, which holds us in good stead.
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