Council-managed waste facility operations are being revamped in southern NSW. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
A southern NSW council has altered its approach to waste management to favour facilities that can accept a set roster of items.
At a recent meeting, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) voted to approve designated service levels for its waste operations.
Council meeting documents state that there is currently no formalised service level framework for the facilities it manages, which has led to high costs, “inconsistencies” in service deliveries and unmet community expectations.
This follows the council’s adoption, earlier this year, of its amended Waste Management Strategy as part of its long-term planning.
During the meeting, a staff member told councillors this was one of the first stages of the strategy’s implementation.
“The body of work that we did with the waste strategy was significant, and now the real work starts … This is about setting the foundation and setting some principles,” he said.
Under the plan, Queanbeyan-Palerang’s waste facilities would be divided into three categories, dependent on population size and the type of waste they can accept.
It means residents would have access to a waste transfer station (WTS) that’s either large or small, or a user-pays bin compound.
Meeting documents say this would be a more sustainable approach for the council to manage.
“Overall, the proposed waste facility structure reduces legal and environmental risk, improves public safety, ensures policy compliance, and supports equitable and sustainable service delivery for the community.”
Category 1 would consist of large facilities that would accept waste from municipal, construction, commercial and industrial sources.
They would also receive scrap metal, whitegoods and green waste, and function as buy-back facilities.
The Braidwood and Bungendore WTS sites are classed as Category 1 facilities under the approach, while QPRC is expected to consider upgrading the existing WAMI facility at Queanbeyan into one.
Meanwhile, the smaller versions (comprising Category 2) would accept bagged household waste, recycling, and scrap steel.
These will be at places such as the Macs Reef and Captains Flat transfer stations.
“[These would be] servicing limited population catchments where kerbside collection services are not widely available in some cases,” the meeting papers say.
The documents also state that where green waste is accepted at these facilities, it needs to be removed regularly to follow environmental and safety obligations, which would come at a cost.
This cost was judged to be unfeasible for rural communities, based on an early investigation by council staff.
“Such fees are not affordable for rural residents and as an alternative, requiring residents to travel approximately 20 km to dispose of green waste at a fully compliant Category 1 facility is considered a reasonable and practical solution that balances environmental responsibility with community affordability.”
Council papers state some Queanbeyan residents are using the Mugga Lane transfer station in the ACT rather than the Bungendore WTS. Photo: James Coleman.
As for the bin compounds (in Category 3), the meeting documents state these would be on a user-pays basis and a household’s property rates would be adjusted.
“These facilities are designed to service outlying residents by providing access to waste services without the need to travel to a waste transfer station and pay per-visit disposal fees.”
These would take in household waste, co-mingled recycling, and food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste.
Cr Bill Waterhouse asked whether there was funding for CCTV, which would be a measure to “enhance people’s honesty” and ensure the facilities were being used appropriately.
“The main concern for the people who have bins there is of other people misusing them … That’s the beef for those with unattended waste things,” he said.
In response, a staff member said QPRC had recently introduced a key system with “individual locking”.
Sites at Little Burra Road, Araluen and Majors Creek are currently identified as bin compounds, with no plans to expand this category with additional locations.
Meeting papers propose that the existing rural recycling centres also be decommissioned.
Cr Katrina Willis pushed back on the plan, saying it was “premature” to make the change and there had been no consultation around what the new service levels would mean.
She suggested deferring it until councillors could understand its impacts.
“I don’t think it’s as benign as what’s being presented … Asking us to lock in this change without understanding the full ramifications, I don’t want to support that,” she said.
Ultimately, Crs Morgan Broadbent, Mareeta Grundy, Esma Livermore, Ross Macdonald, John Preston, Mark Schweikert, Steve Taskovski, Bryce Wilson and Kenrick Winchester voted to approve the proposal.
Only Crs Waterhouse and Willis opposed it.
