East Gippsland Shire Council has recently made some changes to the number of art installations at the Mallacoota Waste Transfer Station.
Council acknowledges feedback received from the community about the site and recent changes and appreciates not everyone will agree with the removal of some of the installations.
We allow some form of creativity by our staff who operate our 16 waste transfer stations. This includes small gardens and pieces of appropriate public art. However, waste transfer stations operate under very stringent guidelines about how waste is transferred and stored on site. This includes Environment Protection Authority guidelines, OH&S and ensuring that all operations are in keeping with our safe work methods statements. There are a range of specific procedures for managing waste types such as gas bottles.
After a recent site inspection staff were asked to scale back the number of installations and remove any that were considered to represent an operating risk or breach any of the guidelines under which the site is operated.
We certainly encourage recycling and re-purposing and for this reason a small 'tip shop' operates on the Mallacoota site. We do not however encourage the bringing of disused apparel to the site specifically to create art objects.
Staff will continue to be supported to present the sites in an aesthetically pleasing way, but this must be in keeping with the primary purpose of the site as a waste transfer station.
