Melanie Riley
CITY of Mount Gambier has adopted an updated Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy for 2023-2030.
In conjunction with the Waste and Resource Recovery Masterplan, the strategy is focused on Council’s vision for waste management and resource recovery including landfill diversion targets for the period of 2023 to 2030.
It includes a vision, objectives, landfill diversion targets and priority actions to be adopted regarding council’s waste management of waste for the city which includes collection of the three kerbside bins – general waste, food organics and garden organics (FOGO) and recycling and the operation of the Caroline Landfill, the Waste Transfer Station and ReUse Market.
The South Australian government released the South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2020-25 in 2020, outlining appropriate and progressive waste diversion targets for non-metropolitan areas.
During that time, the council has been working on increasing landfill diversion, increasing diversion from 47 per cent in 2020-2021 to 55 per cent in 2022-2023.
Mayor Lynette Martin stressed the importance of diverting waste from landfill and “creating circular economy opportunities.”
Councillor Frank Morello agreed that this was an integral part of the Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy.
“Landfill diversion must be one of our top priorities,” he said.
Council’s updated vision includes three main objectives; increasing landfill diversion further, providing high quality waste and resource recovery services and infrastructure that supports the local economy and providing financially sustainable waste services.
To support this vision and objectives, several priority actions have been outlined.
Some of these include upgrades to council’s waste facilities, further promotion of its FOGO service, engaging and educating the community in waste management and developing regional partnerships and supporting community initiatives.
These actions will be carried out from now until 2030.
