On 25 August, Murrindindi Shire Council adopted its new Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy, aptly titled Rethink | Reduce | Reuse | Recycle.
The Strategy sets out some exciting and ambitious goals to work toward as a community to ensure a more sustainable future for our Shire.
The Strategy ensures Council's waste services are guided by best-practice principles and will enable us to respond to the challenges of considerable change within the waste industry - while still meeting our obligations to residents and the environment.
Council's Environment and Resource Recovery Portfolio Councillor Karine Haslam said the new Strategy reflects the concept of the circular economy.
'The circular economy is all about eliminating waste and the ongoing consumption of resources by directing those resources back into the economy to be reused or recycled into new materials and products.
'Ultimately, we want to become a low-waste municipality. We want to live the principles of a circular economy and we want to work to protect our natural environment and community from the impacts of waste.
As part of the Strategy, Council has set a number of targets, including to divert 80% of waste from landfill and to halve the volume of organic materials going to landfill from residential waste bins by 2030.
'We've developed a Strategic Action Plan that will guide our work over the next 10 years and help us achieve these targets.
'The Action Plan outlines over 80 actions that Council will deliver. Many of these actions will happen within the next four to five years, and include investigating options for a glass recycling service, a food organics and garden organics recycling service and options for local reprocessing of food and garden organics, concrete and glass.
'It is clear there is a great deal of understanding and passion in the community already for addressing this important subject. On that note, a huge thank you to the more than 50 community members who took the time to provide feedback on the draft Strategy during May and June. Your feedback resulted in a number of improvements to the Strategy and the Action Plan', Cr Haslam added.
'Council is looking forward to partnering with its community, local businesses and other government agencies to move our Shire towards a circular economy', said Cr Haslam.
To read a copy of Rethink | Reduce | Reuse | Recycle, please click here.
