Our Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2020-2030 has been adopted at last night’s council meeting.
The strategy’s aim is for the City to contribute
to a circular economy by leading and supporting the community to actively avoid
waste and increase re-use and recycling of products and materials.
The draft strategy was informed
by extensive community and stakeholder engagement between November 2018 and
September 2019.
The strategy explains how the City of Greater
Geelong will reduce, re-use and minimise waste in the region over the next 10
years and incorporates recent national and state policies including the state government’s
Circular Economy Policy.
The vision supports the strategic priority of effective
environmental management in the Council Plan and shows leadership to address
waste, climate change and environmental challenges.
It sets three overall goals, developed with the
help of extensive community input:
- Avoid creating waste – to reduce waste by actively avoiding it;
- Recover more resources – to value waste as a resource and recover more from it; and
- Protect the environment – to reduce the impact waste has on the environment.
Through a series of planned actions and measurable targets under each
goal, the strategy is expected to deliver a major shift in the City’s approach
to waste management. It will see more waste diverted from landfill for re-use
or recycling.
Key actions over the life of the strategy include:
- phasing out single use plastics across City-owned buildings
- implementing a trial food organics collection service
- investigating options and preparing a business case for the development of a food organics processing facility
- preparing a business case to establish a best practice facility for bulk transport of residual waste
- delivering education programs to help the community reduce kerbside bin contamination and increase resource recovery and
- partnering with government agencies, other local governments and organisations to explore opportunities for resource recovery and alternative waste technologies.
Councillor Stephanie Asher – Mayor
This comprehensive strategy is full of clever and creative
ways to reduce the City’s waste footprint. We are aiming to lead the way with
innovative and practical solutions to reduce, re-use, and recycle.It’s time to approach things differently, and this strategy
sets us on the path to doing exactly that. The City will transition to a new
era of waste and resource recovery management in an effort to minimise the
impacts of waste and protect the beautiful natural environment we love so much.
Councillor Ron Nelson – Chair, Waste Management portfolio
I’m really impressed with how this city is leading in the waste space –
it’s an exciting time. The strategy helps set a path for a sustainable future
that reduces waste and increases re-use and recycling. Council hopes Greater
Geelong can be a trial site for a container deposit scheme.We can all do our bit and think differently. We need to be more
responsible with what we bring into the house, because eventually it will leave
the house.
