Changes proposed for Mallee Track and Millewa waste facilities
Published on 27 April 2015
Mildura Rural City Council is considering making changes at rural waste facilities in an effort to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill, increase recycling, combat illegal dumping and ensure the organisation meets strict EPA regulations.
Council staff have begun meeting with residents in communities along the Mallee Track and Millewa to flag the proposed changes and discuss the potential impacts.
Under the proposal customers will have to pay to dispose rubbish at the Ouyen, Murrayville, Underbool, Walpeup, Nangiloc, Werrimull and Lake Cullulleraine facilities, consistent with standards across Victoria. This service is currently provided free of charge, with operating and waste disposal costs covered by Council, and the wider ratepayer base.
Environmental Sustainability Councillor Judi Harris said the proposed changes aimed to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill, deter illegal dumping and encourage people to recycle more instead of throwing all their rubbish out at once.
“Unlike the rest of the municipality there’s currently no incentive for customers using our rural waste facilities to recycle or sort their waste because it can all be thrown out for free,” Cr Harris said.
“We know people and businesses are taking advantage of the fact you can throw out your rubbish for free at rural sites. Over summer we had an incident where 3,000 used tyres were dumped at the Mittyack Transfer Station. It’s not fair that the rest of the community should have to cover this cost of more than $16,000.
“With gate fees in place, people will be more inclined to look at how they can cut costs, and the best way to do that is to recycle more.”
Cr Harris said introducing gate fees would also make for a more consistent approach to waste management across the whole municipality.
“At the moment you have to pay to take rubbish to the Mildura Landfill, but not to any other facility that Council manages. This potentially leads to ratepayers picking up the tab for rubbish and commercial waste dumped at sites without gate fees.
While the gate fees proposed have not yet been set or approved by Council, customers at rural waste facilities would only pay to dispose of rubbish and tyres. Many items such as green waste, timber, cardboard and other recyclables can be disposed of free. So by separating and sorting their waste customers significantly cut the amount they pay.
Proposed changes also include the closure of the Meringur, Mittyack, Boinka, Tutye and Cowangie Transfer Stations, all of which are currently unstaffed and used sparingly.
“These sites are in quite remote parts of the municipality and currently used by a very limited number of people. They are a considerable risk to Council and the community because of the unregulated manner in which they currently operate.” Cr Harris said.
“Council is under increased regulatory pressure to implement best practice operations at all waste facilities and not charging fees and allowing unsupervised access puts us at risk of not meeting EPA and State Government requirements, so we need to address this.”
A timeframe for the introduction of the proposed changes has not yet been set, and Cr Harris said feedback received from the meetings with communities would be presented to Councillors for consideration next month.
“We will then decide how to best move forward. Changes like this are significant and that’s why we’re keen to find out how they would impact people and to explain the reasoning behind them.”
She said if Council did decide to move forward and implement changes at rural waste facilities it would work closely with the affected communities to educate and prepare them for the new changes.
ENDS