A circular economy that reduces landfill waste and improved service delivery are two concepts at the heart of a new Mitchell Shire Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 adopted by council last month.
Councillors voted unanimously to adopt the document, which was released as a draft at the end of 2022, during a meeting on February 20.
The strategy will guide council on a range of issues including the provision of waste and resource-recovery infrastructure and services, including the impending transition to a four-bin system that will see food and organic waste and glass recycling bins added to the existing mixed recycling and general rubbish bins.
The strategy also provides a framework for creating a circular economy, which aims to divert as much waste away from landfill as possible through sustainable principles – designing items to create less waste, producing them sustainably, keeping materials in use for as long as possible by reusing and repairing them, and recovering maximum value from materials used by recycling.
Cr Louise Bannister said improving council’s waste-collection services was another focus of the document.
“It addresses the concerns our community has raised in the past regarding green waste collection as well as investigating the viability of hard waste collection,” she said.
“It also acknowledges that it’s not all on our shire to make this difference and makes a strong point of advocating to the State Government for better outcomes and partnering with other councils to work on waste issues together.
“This strategy looks at exploring opportunities in the area for waste management in construction.
“A large amount of our waste comes from construction sites … and we have a lot of construction going on in our shire, so it’s looking … [at] how we can support those industries to better recycle and use leftover materials.”
Cr Nathan Clark said the strategy would bring council into line with state-wide waste management policies.
“The community has been quite excited about [the four-bin system],” he said.
“Overwhelmingly the community is interested in waste management and wants to make a difference, and this certainly helps us achieve that.”
Cr Rob Eldridge said while he approved of the strategy, the four-bin system had potential to alienate some residents.
“This has been a great initiative from the government, but it’s missing one vital component – that is the legislation to ensure that the things that are produced are recyclable,” he said.
“If you look at what is necessary now to separate out your waste … I’m going to struggle.
“We have so many standards on what is recyclable that it is going to be a little bit fraught in terms of implementation.”
Cr David Lowe described the document as ‘an important piece of work’ but predicted the strategy would need to be updated several times before its expiry in 2030.
“Without wishing any more work on our team, I can guarantee there will be a number of developments and amendments needed to this before 2030,” he said.
“This is a very volatile area and things are changing rapidly. I think we as a council need to keep our eye on those changes and keep across them in terms of their economic impact, both on council and on the residents, and also the impact on the environment.”
Cr Rhonda Sanderson encouraged people to read the strategy, which is available online at engagingmitchellshire.com/waste-strategy-2030.
“A lot of people are interested in waste – here’s the thing for you if you love waste,” she said.
“This is what we’re planning to do as far as our resource recovery centres and reuse shops.
“It gives you all the stats on how many garbage bins we’ve got … the tons of garbage we collect, the recycling tonnage – all those lovely stats in their murky, disgusting detail are in this report.”
