Rubbish rhetoric is overflowing from all Council candidates about attempts to get Shoalhaven's waste under control. But what actions will help clean up our mess?
Local councils manage waste, but in May, a parliamentary committee heard from the United Services Union that the NSW government is withholding more than half a billion dollars a year in waste levies collected from local councils. That story is worth a read too.
Spark Mayoralympics Heat #5 looks across the landfill mountain at a hazy horizon of RRF, MRF and FOGO composting.
After massive investment and praise for the Bioelektra plans, Council's current position on the dumped Resource Recovery Facility is a now dense pile of toxic bureaucracy.
A frantic sort and separate is also happening after the Shoalhaven Materials Recovery Facility construction company, Project Coordination, announced its voluntary receivership in March.
This puts Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) at the top of the heap again. But councils around the country have been slow to roll out Greens bins with cost, contamination and lacklustre community support hindering the campaign, despite urgent calls for a culture shift.
So, push your pizza boxes and glass jars aside to hear how our Mayoral candidates will get their hands dirty.
What is your position on Shoalhaven Council's waste management and what changes should Shoalhaven ratepayers realistically expect to rubbish handling during the next term of Council?
Jemma Tribe
Many of us, me included, have FOGO FOMO. We’ve seen neighbouring LGAs with their kitchen-top food scrap bins and outside green bins taking away garden waste that might otherwise be clogging up drains or going straight to landfill. Now is the time to address the issue.
Some have said to me, ‘But I have chickens, home composting and lots of land for lawn clippings etc’ – that’s great! Many don’t. When I doorknock places like Dolphin Point, Worrigee and others, they tell me they don’t have the space – or a ute to transport green waste to the tip.
One bloke told me he was moving and paid a fortune to take his plants to the tip. Another said she tried to organise a Council green waste pick up, but the waiting time was so long her vouchers would have expired.
Team Tribe Independents are running on a ‘back to basics’ platform that includes green bins. If we are fortunate enough to be elected, we would like to get on with the job immediately – scoping out with staff the best way forward, collaborating with other Councillors and calling for tenders. The site earmarked for Bioelektra could potentially be utilised by a contractor for the right price and it would be wonderful if gate sales of high-quality compost could also be available!
Kaye Gartner
The circular economy is the future economy. One person’s rubbish is another person’s resource.
Our culture exploits nature for resources. We wantonly discard resource-rich products like plastic bags and bottles; we stuff bins with containers, scraps and disposables. Go to any Shoalhaven tip to see fridges, mattresses and furniture alongside old bikes and BBQs.
Reuse, reduce, recycle and upcycle is the best management system for resources. In nature, there is no rubbish or waste.
Shoalhaven City Council is a leader in the circular economy space. Our sewerage is returned, processed and used on farms. The award-winning Microfactorie produces tile products from waste fabric and glass. Tips have buy-back shops; most consumer goods – TVs, mattresses, computers - that reach the end of their useable life are broken down and recycled in some way.
Shoalhaven Council is motivated to find world-class solutions to “waste” management because Council pays the NSW government urban waste fees. The Environmental Protection Agency collects money from councils but does not use it to invest in circular economy initiatives.
In 2018, Shoalhaven Council chose a solution in a world-leading technology that turns 98% of household waste into reuseable products. In Covid, the private partner developer went belly up, as so many construction businesses did. We lost that platinum-level circular economy solution.
A new Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) will be up and running next year. This facility takes the yellow recycling bin, sorts it and turns it into saleable commodities. The MRF will sell this recycling service to neighbouring Councils creating extra income and extra jobs for our community.
Finally, Green bins for Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) will be discussed during the next term of Council. Green bins can significantly reduce the amount of red bin waste going into landfill. They do add an extra bin charge for ratepayers. I will support the solution that offers the best circular economy outcome for the least cost to Shoalhaven residents.
My worm farm gets all our food and garden waste. Those critters reduce it all to fabulous fertiliser. One household's waste is another household's fertiliser!
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Got a question to ask Jemma Tribe or Kaye Gartner? Post it in the comments or email it to thesparkshoalhaven@gmail.com
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