Ideas sought for future of waste in Wollongong

Wollongong City Council needs your input for a new waste strategy which will chart a ten-year path to sustainable waste management.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said waste is an issue that impacts every member of the community and encouraged residents young and old to get involved in tackling it.

“Waste is the single largest spend in our budget each year and it will only get more challenging as Whytes Gully reaches capacity and the Wollongong population grows. That makes this document one of the most important legacies this Council will leave,” said Cr Bradbery.

“While councils are responsible for the removal, treatment and disposal of waste, minimising what we generate and appropriately sorting it is the responsibility of every Australian.”

This new strategy follows the successful implementation of the previous iteration.

“Among other things, the last strategy saw us increase landfill gas capture at Whytes Gully, build and open the Community Recycling Centre, install Community Recycling Stations across most of our libraries, launch a waste service app, and, via our contractor Remondis, introduce Australia’s first hydrogen-powered bin truck!

“Launching FOGO, another action from our last plan, is seeing a huge amount of organic material being diverted from landfill. Since January, more than 16,000 tonnes of organic material have been processed by our organics processing partner. That’s a real impact.

“In our recent Community Satisfaction Survey, our domestic waste service—including waste collection, recycling, and FOGO—was a top performing area of satisfaction for respondents.

“That said, we won’t be resting on our laurels. There are areas where both council and the community can do better.”

To guide the community input, Council has identified four key goals for the new strategy, which will cover the next decade.

“We have goals that are far-reaching and can be delivered in a magnitude of ways.

“Broadly, we want to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, reduce waste-related emissions, improve Council’s waste management, and help Wollongong transition to a circular economy where items are used for as long as possible then recycled for future use.

“Underneath those lies a blank roadmap ready to populate with ideas and inspiration from the community. We also need to leave room for changes we expect ahead in the waste industry, like emerging technologies.

“This strategy will formalise our promise to the community, but also outline our expectations in the community to manage waste in a sustainable and effective way.

“That’s why we want to make sure people's voices are heard in preparing for this new strategy and create a meaningful plan for the next 10 years’ in waste management,” said Cr Bradbery.

Visit our.wollongong.nsw.gov.au to have your say before 20 May 2024.