Bayside Council has won the the prestigious 2023 National Award for Local Government in the category of Waste Management, beating 537 councils Australia-wide.
The award presentation was made at a breakfast held at Australian National Convention Centre in Canberra on Tuesday 13 June 2023, by the Federal Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, the Hon. Kristy McBain MP.
The National Awards for Local Government are an annual celebration of local government achievements in Australia that highlight innovative initiatives implemented by local governments that make a difference to their communities.
Additionally, all award winners will be recognised at the Australian Council of Local Government Gala Dinner held on Thursday 15 June 2023, in the Great Hall at Parliament House, which will be attended by the Prime Minister and Federal Ministers.
The award recognises Bayside’s ongoing work and achievements stemming from its Circular Economy Strategy and Annual Action Plans, which promote and encourage ways to use waste as a resource, by maximising the amount of reusable or recyclable material to be returned to the economy to benefit communities whilst reducing the amount of material that is sent to landfill.
“On behalf of Bayside, it is an honour to receive the National Local Government Award for Waste Management,” Bayside Mayor Dr Christina Curry said.
“I am proud of our Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2018-2030, which embodies the circular economy model. It’s a rolling program with continuous action plans which have resulted in 13 state environmental awards in multiple categories, in addition to this national recognition.”
Bayside Council’s circular economy strategy had resulted in many successful achievements including:
- Mandating the use of recycled material in our annual road re-sheeting program, using 600 tonnes of recycled crush glass (equivalent to 3M glass bottles) and 4,500 tonnes of recycled asphalt last year. Last week, Council began a new trial to include rubber from tyres in the asphalt mix.
- 18,000 tonnes of organic material is extracted annually from the general waste bins at an advanced treatment facility, and used as compost to rehabilitate an old mine site.
- 22 annual Community Recycling Drop-Off Events for materials such as mattresses, expanded polystyrene, tyres, and bicycles, resulting in over 160,000 kilograms diverted from landfill per annum.
- Smart, solar powered mobile surveillance trailers and interactive education mobile vans assisted in reducing illegal dumping incidences by 10%, and weight of material by 27% per capita.
- Trial garden beds at our off-leash fenced dog parks, where the soil is nourished using a rotational dog poo worm farm and compost bin system.
- Implementing 80 ‘smart sensor’ beach litter bins over 8km of beachfront, preventing 60,000 kilograms per annum of litter from entering our waterways.
- Pollution control devices that help divert 225,000 kilograms of unwanted material annually from entering our waterways.
The journey does not end here, with Bayside rolling out an additional 28,000 Garden Organics mobile bins (240L) to residents in 2024, which will be supported by an NSW EPA grant of $1.25M.
