Brimbank council will continue to push towards more sustainable waste management practices.
The council is developing its new Waste, Recycling and Litter Strategy 2018-2028 and has undertaken a period of community consultation.
Cr Virginia Tachos said the feedback has been clear.
“Waste management is a high priority for the Brimbank community, particularly identifying alternatives to landfill. Landfill are not, and should not, be a long-term strategy,” she said.
At last week’s meeting the council endorsed a draft response to the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group’s discussion paper,
Advanced Waste & Resource Recovery Technologies.
In its submission, the council raised concerns about using landfill as the solution for residual waste disposal and highlighted the need for increased investment into landfill alternatives.
However, Cr John Hedditch said that while future thinking is needed, there were also immediate issues.
“We do still have very real problems in this community,” he said.
“We have the Ravenhall tip down the road that causes grief to residents … on a regular basis.
“Those issues aren’t going to go away in the short term.
“They’re going to remain here. While we have a submission going in and it’s looking forward to the future, we also have to deal with what we have today.”
Cr Hedditch said advocacy was the best weapon to combat the problems facing the community.
“During 2018 our focus has to be not only on the future, but also on advocating as strongly as we possibly can to overcome the problems that are being caused to this wider region western community by these big tips which are still taking a lot of landfill.
“The recycling industry which is being discussed around Victoria and nationally isn’t going to help the situation if it worsens.
“We have to keep up our advocacy for reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.”
