Bemboka waste transfer station to re-open after fires

More detail about recommended Bega Valley Shire waste changes and the reasons behind those changes will be prepared for councillors and the community. Photo: Supplied.

Bega Valley Shire councillors have unanimously agreed to reopen Bemboka’s tip after it was impacted by the 2020 bushfires.

Bemboka waste transfer station will be serviced at pre-closure levels, one day per week, councillors agreed at their ordinary meeting on 26 August. The council is yet to decide which day the tip will be open on.

Since the fires, the council’s principal landfill has been the central waste facility.

At the same meeting, councillors voted for a major overhaul to the way the council manages its waste service mix but have first asked for more detail about the changes and for the reasons behind those changes to be explained to the community.

At the meeting, Bega Valley Shire Council director of assets and operations, Anthony McMahon, recognised the need to better explain to the community the recommendations on how waste services should be changed into the future.

“We are pleased that all councillors acknowledge the need for change and at the same time agree there is a need to bring the community further up to speed as to why change is needed and what the consequences of certain actions are,” Mr McMahon said.

“There are multiple layers to why we need to change – environmental, economic and financial. If we keep putting things in the hole in the ground that is our central waste facility, we’re going to run out of landfill space and, when we get to that point, the full financial impacts will be large.”

Council staff will prepare long-term financial models outlining assumptions for different scenarios to present to councillors at a future meeting. This will assist in understanding the financial impacts of different options available to the council for the future delivery of waste services.

“There’s an opportunity to better educate our community on the future of waste management in our shire as well as how we currently do things. We will now develop a program aimed at providing further information to the community on what we currently do, how we do it and what we are recommending needs to be done, and why, into the future,” Mr McMahon said.