2018-08-07 Services and Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                7 AUGUST 2018


FUTURE DIRECTION

Council recently engaged Envirocom to conduct an audit of municipal solid waste collected by
Council. The audit was commissionned to inform the ZEN team of the make-up of Council’s
waste stream going to landfill. The audit was also used to gauge the success of the recent
education programs and implementation of the garden waste bin roll-out. The audit revealed that,
on average, the Noosa community’s waste bins contained:
   17.3% garden waste
   29.2% food waste
   15.5% recyclables (items that should be in the yellow top bin)

This shows that up to 62% of material in the general waste bins could potentially be diverted from
the waste stream going to landfill. Significant improvement is required from Council and the
Noosa community to reach the aspirational targets of zero net emissions and zero waste to
landfill.

In the light of these audit results, Council’s Project Control Group for ZEN has requested that
Council officers explore the potential for a community ‘behaviour change’ strategy to improve
waste management practices and reduce waste generation in the Noosa Shire. This will form the
basis for a separate report to Council to be submitted through the ZEN Project Control Group.

Previous Council Consideration

Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 15 February 2018, Item 16, Page 9
That Council note the report by the Manager Waste and Environmental Health to the Services
and Organisation Committee Meeting dated 6 February 2018 providing an update on the
activities of the Waste Management Section for the period 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Finance

Refer to Section 1 – Finance.

Risk

In the May 2018 Independent WH&S audit undertaken by LGW a number of risks were identified
relating to Council’s operation of the Eumundi Rd Landfill and the Pomona and Cooroy transfer
stations. The majority of these risks were of a minor nature and have been, or are in the process
of being, rectified.

Of particular concern to the auditor however was the traffic management plan in place around the
tip face, green waste and mulching areas at Eumundi Rd Landfill. This area falls under
Cleanaway’s management responsibility. In order to ensure that contractual liability boundaries
were not breached the development of a new traffic management plan has required discussions
between Cleanaway, staff in the Waste Section, and Council’s WH&S Officer. These discussions
have been held in a spirit of goodwill and Cleanaway have agreed to develop a new improved
traffic management plan to help mitigate the risks

Business Continuity
It is planned to review, test and update the Waste Section’s Risk Management Program and
Business Continuity Program in the first quarter of 2019/20.




                                                                                Page 105 of 165