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Council Sends Submission On New Waste Management PolicyEast Gipps Shire has sent a detailed submission to the Environment Protection Authority stating a number of concerns directly related to East Gipps in the recently released Draft Waste Management Policy (Siting, Design and Management of Landfills) By East Gippsland Shire Council - 29th March 2004 - Back to News Mayor Harvey Bates said Council is concerned at what it sees in the policy as extreme financial implications and the inability for this Council to provide effective, efficient and economical waste management services should it be approved in its current format.
"Whilst commending the EPA on the development of the draft policy, there are a number of issues that Council is extremely concerned about should it be implemented in its current form," Cr Bates said.
"In order for Council to provide essential waste disposal facilities across the municipality, it operates 14 landfills (three licensed and 11 unlicensed), plus seven transfer stations and nine transfer trailers.
"The net cost to operate these facilities already exceeds $2.95 million annually – with a total waste management budget constituting approximately 15% of Council’s entire operating budget.
"Whilst supportive of the primary intent of the draft policy to minimise the development and use of landfills in Victoria, Council believes this would be impractical for East Gippsland’s remote areas as its adoption would not result in a cost effective means of waste management and disposal for those towns," Cr Bates said.
Shire Waste Management Coordinator, Katie Zagami, said the draft policy ignores the difficulties of the limited ratepayer base in rural municipalities to meet increasing costs, and the ongoing requirement to provide waste management services to rural and remote communities.
"The environmental standards nominated in the draft policy would require Council to operate facilities on an uneconomical basis or at levels where tipping fees are exceedingly high," Katie said.
"Other sections of the draft policy are of particular concern to Council and require amendment and/or clarification to assist in providing efficient and economically viable waste management services in East Gippsland, including location of landfill sites.
"Under the draft policy guidelines, Council’s recently established ‘state–of–the–art’ Bairnsdale Regional Landfill (at a cost of $4 million and after 10 years of planning) would not receive a works approval for its planned future stages from 25 – 50 years.
"Should one of the policy sections be adopted without change, the future of this new regional facility would result in a reduction of over 50 per cent, i.e. a life of only 25 years compared to the original planning of 50 plus years. This would have a substantial impact on Council’s planning and direction and would totally contradict the principles Council has achieved in conjunction with the Regional Waste Management Plan, which was developed as a requirement under the Environment Protection Act 1970.
"There are other concerns we have addressed in our submission relating to some of the more remote landfills in Bonang and Mallacoota, that would have an impact on these communities," Katie said.
Cr Bates said Council is requesting that the EPA prepare and circulate a final draft policy for further comment to all stakeholders prior to the adoption of the policy.
For further information please contact Cr Harvey Bates or Katie Zagami on 5153 9500.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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