(Photo: Twitter)
November 18, 2017
Toowoomba Regional Council has marked National Recycling Week by turning the first sod at the new Cooyar Waste Transfer Facility.
Work also started last week on new facilities at Cecil Plains and Evergreen – the beginning of a project to upgrade all 23 Waste Management Facilities in the Toowoomba region.
Water and Waste Committee chair Cr Nancy Sommerfield said the sod-turning ceremony at Cooyar was an important milestone.
“The construction of the new Cooyar, Cecil Plains and Evergreen Waste Transfer Facilities signals the successful start of Council’s Waste Management Strategy that identified some of the region’s landfills are near capacity and Council’s need to take proactive steps to deliver better services, save on costs and provide more environmentally friendly waste disposal options.”
The new waste transfer facilities are designed on Council’s award-winning Greater Toowoomba Waste Management Facility on O’Mara Road that diverts more than 70 per cent of waste received from landfill.
Council has awarded the construction contract of these three facilities to local business, Bellwether Contractors. These projects will procure much of their materials, consumables, services, labour and equipment hire locally within the Toowoomba Region.
Each of the three new or upgraded facilities is due to open within the first half of next year and will feature sealed pavements and a roofed facility for the disposal of residual waste.
“The upgraded Cecil Plains and Evergreen Waste Transfer Facilities will remain at their original locations whilst the new Cooyar Road Transfer Facility will be built one kilometre west of the existing site at a more suitable location,” Cr Sommerfield said.
“Council understands the importance of having access to waste services during construction and will continue to keep the original facilities accessible to residents until the new facilities open in 2018.”
The three original waste sites at Cooyar, Cecil Plains and Evergreen will be rehabilitated and monitored to meet environmental requirements.
