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Waste and Resource Management Strategy

The City of Greater Bendigo (CoGB) is developing a Waste and Resource Management Strategy to guide how we will deal with our waste in the future.

Waste is everyone’s responsibility (we all create it!) and we want the community to be involved in this important project.

Please read on.

WASTE SURVEYS NOW CLOSED

Both the Business and Resident waste surveys are now closed. We recieved over 50 responses to the business survey and over 300 responses to the resident survey. Thank you to everyone who participated in either of these - we value your comments and feedback.

Results, along with information from individual consultations and community listening posts, will now inform the development of a draft Waste and Resource Management Strategy which will be available for public comment in coming months.

For further information, please contact us on the details provided below (under 'How can I find out more and be kept informed about this project?').

What is the Waste and Resource Management Strategy?

The Waste and Resource Strategy will begin to address the big question: how do we want to deal with our waste and resources in the future?

It will not merely be a document to sit on a shelf. It also involves gathering knowledge and building processes and relationships that will support sound decision making and investment for the CoGB community on-going.

The project aims to deliver a strategic framework that will support the CoGB to:

Identify and establish a vision and goals for how we want to deal with our waste and resources in the future
Clarify CoGB’s role, at local, regional and state levels
Make well-informed decisions
Respond and adapt to future change as required
Identify achievable actions that support the strategic goals
Identify measures to meaningfully evaluate performance

The project is starting with a blank page: it is currently unknown what CoGB’s future directions in waste and resource management will be.

Why do we need it?

We create significant volumes of waste per year and our existing waste disposal infrastructure has a limited life span. Increasingly it is being recognised that waste streams can also provide an invaluable resource for further uses and/or the creation of new products.

Living in evolving political, social, economic, technological and natural environments, and faced with a growing population in our community we need to review – and re-define – how we manage waste in Greater Bendigo. This is important not only for residents, but also for our local businesses and industries

The way we deal with waste in the future will be different to how we have done it in the past – a Waste and Resource Management Strategy will help guide what this may be.

It's a Fact... In Greater Bendigo:

Each resident generates more than 300 kg of domestic waste each year. This equates to over 20,000 kg of garbage in one lifetime!
Every year there is total of more than 80,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfill from the City of Greater Bendigo (CoGB) municipality
The Eaglehawk Landfill, our main landfill site, is expected to reach full capacity within three to five years.
Greater Bendigo does not have any further sites approved to receive and dispose of the large amount of waste that is generated locally.
To reduce pressure on the Eaglehawk landfill, we truck over half of our landfill waste to sites located outside of our municipality
The cost of waste disposal continues to rise, due to increasing regulations, levies and taxes

What do we mean by ‘waste’ and ‘resources’?

Waste is any material or substance that has been discarded with no application for further use. For the purpose of this Strategy, waste refers to those municipal, industrial and commercial waste streams that Council currently has a role in managing and/or may have a role in managing in the future.

‘Resources’ refers to materials in our waste stream that may be used for other purposes, such as re-use, recycling or energy creation. Seeing waste as a resource will be a key part of the City of Greater Bendigo Strategy and aligns with the State’s ‘Towards Zero Waste’ policy and the National Waste Policy: less waste, more resources.

How is the community being involved?

The Greater Bendigo community has and is being involved in a variety of ways. This includes surveys, listening posts, workshops and public comment on the draft strategy.

As they arise, these opportunities will be advertised via this website and the project mailing list.

In 2012, a Waste and Resource Advisory Committee was also appointed. This committee has an ongoing role to inform Council on waste and resource related matters and community concerns. It is made up of 10 community members, two councillors and the responsible CoGB director for the project. The focus of the Advisory Committee’s first 12-month term is to provide advice and input to the strategy. Community members on the Committee are participating on a voluntary basis because they see a need for community responses to waste and resource issues. The group represents diverse backgrounds and interests. The members are:

Back: Nicole Hood (resident), Cr Peter Cox, Verity Lougoon (Bendigo Sustainability Group, Towards Zero Waste Action Group), Rebecca Dempsey (Future Employment Opportunities, CEO), Veronica Hall (Latrobe University, Regional Partnerships Manager), Brian Stanmore (resident/ retiree with waste research background)

Front: Glenn Morrison (MSD Animal Health, Operations Manager), Cr Barry Lyons, Susan Hayes (CoGB executive support), Darren Fuzzard (CoGB Director, Presentation and Assets), Danny Potter (retired, former General Manager at VATMI), Chris Harrington (Strategem Financial Group, Partner/Director), Jeff Cummins (AIGroup, Senior Adviser, Environment and Energy)

Absent: Don Erskine (Industrial Conveying)

What project reports and publications are available?

A series of documents and project updates will be produced over the course of the project. Some of these will be for information only, while others will be available for public comment.

Background paper

A background paper documenting the current waste management situation in Greater Bendigo (Stage 1) has been compiled and is now available for download. This paper is available to inform the strategic discussions and process, it does not form the strategy itself.

Project updates

Periodically we will be issuing updates on the project and these will be available for download here.

How can I find out more and be kept informed about this project?

A project mailing list has been established for interested stakeholders to receive project updates and notifications. This is an electronic email distribution list. If email is not readily accessible, paper copies may be arranged.

For further information about the project or to be added to the mailing list please email to WasteResourceStrategy@bendigo.vic.gov.au or contact the CoGB Sustainable Environment Unit on (03) 5434 6000.