At its Council Meeting last night, Council adopted the Single-use Plastic Policy and Beyond Zero Waste Strategy 2030 as part of its commitment to sending zero waste directly to landfill by 2030 and phasing out problematic single-use plastics.
Mornington Peninsula Shire has been a leader in best practice waste management for over a decade. With the adopted Policy and Strategy in place we can look to an innovative and progressive future where waste is repurposed, recycled or reused and single-use plastics are eliminated.
Mayor Councillor Sam Hearn said “single use plastics? There are better choices! Often, we opt for single use plastics out of habit, even though we know how bad they are for our precious environment. Mornington Peninsula Shire is changing that. As an organisation, we are phasing out the use of single-use plastics in our offices, halls, sporting clubs, events and Shire managed land.”
Briars Ward Councillor Bev Colomb said “To assist our community and local businesses the Shire will develop a resource kit for community use. We encourage every Mornington Peninsula resident and business to join us in working towards a single-use plastic free Peninsula by 2023.”
“We continue to see our community doing wonderful things and I look forward to assisting them spread the word. There are many strategies we can work on together and call on businesses to do their bit too. Every bit of no single-use plastic is fantastic and we can only have success by doing this all together.”
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s ambitious 10-year plan to send zero waste to landfill includes a variety of actions:
- households can add food waste in their green waste bins, receive rebates on reusable nappies, discounts on composting systems and incentives to reduce waste
- more recycling bins in public spaces
- community drop-off hubs for textiles and small electrical items
- a local waste innovation fund to support communities and businesses to reduce, reuse and recycle
- residual waste will be sent to an alternative waste treatment facility to be turned into energy.
Seawinds Ward Councillor Simon Brooks said “Waste that can’t be reused, repaired or recycled will be sent to an alternative waste processing facility. In addition, the Shire will offset this by using the equivalent weight of recycled material in our new roads, footpaths and construction.”
Mayor Cr Hearn said “Thank you to our community for your invaluable help in building the Beyond Zero Waste Strategy 2030. Mornington Peninsula Shire is extremely proud of our dedicated and passionate community members who are making significant strives to reduce waste, reuse, repurpose and repair items.”
“The Shire looks forward to working with residents, the community, businesses and industries to progressively implement the Beyond Zero Waste Strategy and Single-use Plastic Policy.”
To view the Single-use Plastic Policy and Beyond Zero Waste Strategy 2030 visit mornpen.vic.gov.au/ourwastefuture
