The following comments can be attributed to Director City Services Guy Wilson-Browne:
The City received notification yesterday that EPA Victoria has issued SKM Laverton with a notice to stop receiving recyclables until they have reached compliance once again.
SKM Services Pty Ltd are contracted to process the 28,000 tonnes of recyclable material produced in the City of Greater Geelong every year.
We are now taking action to manage the predicted downstream impacts on our kerbside collection service in the short term. We urge residents to continue sorting and reducing their waste responsibly.
We are also investigating an extensive range of options for long term changes to our municipal waste collection services that will improve the recycling process and provide a better result for our environment.
We are in contact with SKM and impressing on them the importance of undertaking the required works and the potential impact on our ratepayers.
We are continuing to work closely with other agencies including local governments, waste management groups and Municipal Association of Victoria to determine the best short and long term solutions for our community.
This has included extensive research and consultation with the industry.
The following comments can be attributed to City of Greater Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood:
We will continue to collect and dispose of residential recyclables in the most environmentally responsible way possible. But we need the system around us to step up and address the overarching issues facing the recycling industry in Australia.
We are in unity with local governments across Victoria in the push for serious government investment in domestic recycling, state and federal policy change and significant legislative action.
As outlined in the Municipal Association of Victoria’s ‘Rescue our Recycling’ campaign, there are clear actions we need to take at all levels of government (summarised below).
It is important to note that community has a fundamental role in reducing the impact of this recycling crisis.
One of the most effective ways to fix the problem is to reduce our waste in the first instance – buy less packaging, reuse and repurpose. Reducing our waste is now more important than ever.
Recent publicity around the national recycling crisis has highlighted to the community that simply throwing more and more recycling in the yellow-lid bin is not a sustainable solution.
We call on the Greater Geelong community to take the lead in this issue. Let’s actively and dramatically reduce our waste. Buy in bulk, bring your own containers, don’t forget your reusable coffee cup!
We will keep our website up to date with any new information for the community.
