Ten-year plan for waste management

Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group leaders have welcomed State Government approval for a comprehensive, 10-year plan to guide the organisation’s future.

Grampians Central West is one of six regions to develop a longterm plan to form a Victorian waste framework.

Acting Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Richard Wynne said the plans would help reduce the impact of waste on communities, the economy and the environment.

“We’re investing more than $30-million in waste and resource recovery now and putting in place solid plans for the future, to reduce landfill and the impact Victorians have on the environment,” he said.

Acting Grampians Central West executive officer La Vergne Lehmann said the plan would focus on developing best practice facilities across the region that would service communities and provide new job opportunities.

“This is the culmination of almost two years of work in bringing together information about the current waste and resource recovery infrastructure and services we have across the region,” she said.

“From there we consulted with councils, business and communities to understand what the critical elements of a waste and resource recovery system for our region would be into the future.”

Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group was established in August 2014 and covers 12 local government areas from Bacchus Marsh through to the South Australian border.

The group has offices in Ballarat and Horsham and works with local government to address waste issues from statutory planning, infrastructure, procurement of waste services, waste and recycling education, litter and illegal dumping, and to manage the Resourcesmart Schools program across the region.

“The Grampians Central West group is already working in partnership with other agencies on developing a co-ordinated regional approach for waste to energy to put our region in a prime position for investment and economic development opportunities,” Mrs Lehmann said.

“The waste and resource recovery plan for this diverse region must balance significant population growth in the eastern end of the region with lower population growth across larger areas in the west.

“We know that we have challenges with population growth at the eastern end of the region compared with high transport costs and lower waste volumes in the western end of the region.

“This means it is critical that we listen to council, business and the community needs while ensuring a positive outcome for the economy and the environment.”

Mrs Lehmann said a comprehensive evaluation of the region’s landfill capacity showed no new landfills were needed for at least 10 years.

She said the new plan recognised disposing of waste to landfill could affect health, amenity and the environment, and would reduce the need for landfills by working with the state government to develop markets for recovered materials and energy.

“Priorities for Grampians Central West group will be developing a strategy for diverting organic material from landfill for the region, developing a new recycling education program for the region, ensuring that waste and resource recovery infrastructure is protected from encroachment and optimising the procurement of waste and resource recovery services with local government,” she said.

People can visit www.recyclingrevolution.com.au for a copy of the Grampians Central West plan.