Following funding support from the Victorian Government, all G21 councils are taking part in a collaborative project, led by the City of Geelong, to develop a regional waste, resource recovery and reuse hub.
The project is being supported by the Recycling Victoria Councils Fund, which is delivered by Sustainability Victoria on behalf of the Victorian Government.
City of Geelong has been awarded $80,000 through the fund to lead the preparation of a feasibility study into the initiative.
With further in-kind contributions from all G21 councils, the feasibility study will assess sites, analyse different options and develop a concept design for the preferred model.
Greater Geelong Mayor, Stephanie Asher, said the hub would have considerable benefits for the five councils and their ratepayers.
“The recent recycling crisis and the fallout in the industry has highlighted the need to improve the waste and recycling infrastructure in the region and minimise our dependency on external markets,” Mayor Asher said.
“Centralising operations through a purpose-built regional facility will reduce our exposure to market forces, increase efficiencies and reduce costs for residential collection services.”
The facility would serve three key purposes, with:
- The materials recovery arm providing technologies to improve the sorting of recyclables and the quality of recovered materials
- The resource recovery centre supporting residents and businesses to recycle, recover and reuse goods and materials
- The bulk haulage transfer station delivering operational efficiencies and cost savings to councils’ waste and recycling services
Chair of the Circular Economy portfolio, Councillor Belinda Moloney, said the project is built on the strong established partnership among the G21 councils, with support from the Barwon South West Waste and Resource Recovery Group.
“An innovative project of this scale could only be developed with the backing and input of all our regional councils,” Cr Moloney said.
“To minimise the amount of waste going to landfill, we need to change the way we manage our resources.
“An integrated hub would set the whole region on a path to a circular economy and help us meet our wider environmental sustainability targets.”
