August 28, 2014
The South Burnett Regional Council has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council to start a recycling service in both council areas.
The agreement comes after several months of testing Cherbourg’s new recycling plant’s capabilities using recyclables collected at the Nanango waste transfer facility.
Under the terms of the agreement, the South Burnett Regional Council will place collection cages at the Murgon, Wondai, Kingaroy and Nanango waste transfer facilities within the next few months where residents can deposit aluminium, paper/cardboard and plastics.
The Council will also pay $4000 to $6000 for signage at the collection points to help residents locate and safely use the new facilities.
Cherbourg’s recycling plant operators will collect the material weekly, recycle it and sell it to pay for the service’s running costs, which include staff wages, vehicles, insurance and general overheads.
Cherbourg Council will also offer direct, up-to-daily collection for businesses who want to make use of the service.
Both councils will initially trial the new system until the end of 2015 – and if both are happy with the arrangement, it will then be reviewed every two years from then on.
At Wednesday’s monthly Council meeting, Councillors unanimously approved the agreement.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann noted that the results of a survey the Council undertook midway through last year showed many residents in the region wanted to recycle, particularly those who lived in the major towns.
But they weren’t prepared to pay the $75-$80 a year cost of introducing a kerbside recycling service.
And while he thought it was “probably inevitable” that such a service would have to be introduced at some point in the future, the success of Cherbourg’s recycling plant would provide an interim solution that would probably please most people.
At the present time, an estimated 16 tonnes of recyclable material is pushed into South Burnett landfill sites each week, and all existing landfills are expected to be filled in the next five to 15 years.
The estimated cost of creating a new landfill site is around $6 million.
Related articles:
- Cherbourg Gets Ready To Recycle
- Councils Discuss Recycling Partnership
- Recycling ‘Too Expensive’
- Council Seeking Quotes On Recycling
- What Do You Think About Kerbside Recycling?
- Council Looks At Kerbside Recycling
