2015-08-24 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   24 AUGUST 2015




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GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                                         24 AUGUST 2015

               THE CASE FOR ACTION                    (why do we need to do anything?)

               The following table describes the forces, risks and factors that led the Jury to agree that Noosa
               Council should take action to minimise organic waste going to landfill.

                Political and              The Queensland Waste and Resource Management Strategy’ released in
                                           December 2014 stipulates that Noosa Council must:
                regulatory forces
                                           ¢   Improve its recycling rate to 45% by 2024.
                                           ¢   Reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 15% by 2024.
                                           Queensland is the only state without a landfill levy after the Newman
                                           Liberal National Party Government repealed it in 2012. A levy could be
                                           reintroduced, especially as the loss of the levy meant a decline in
                                           recycling rates, the loss of jobs and resulted in Queensland becoming an
                                           attractive and cheaper ‘dumping ground’ for rubbish from interstate’”.
                                           The New South Wales levy raises more than $500 million annually,
                                           another incentive for the reintroduction of a waste levy in Queensland’.

                 ‘      ‘    ‘             If the New South Wales waste levy were applied in 2014, Noosa Council
                Financial risks                                                                         ai;   :
                                           would have had to pay the State Government more than $2 million. This
                                           equates to approximately $40-S50 a year per domestic ratepayer’,
                                           Reducing organic waste to landfill will also minimise Noosa Council's
                                           exposure to any future governments’ climate change initiatives, such as a
                                           future carbon tax or other price based carbon regulatory system’.

                Landfill life              The existing Eumundi Landfill Site has a current expected life of 33 years’.
                                           While Noosa Council has land available for future waste disposal, it is
                                           uncertain whether State Government approval can be obtained.
                                           The creation of a new landfill will be expensive for Noosa Council, and
                                           thus probably the ratepayers. The longer the life of the landfill can be
                                           extended, the better. This can be achieved by minimising the amount of
                                           waste that is sent to the landfill.

                                           Food waste has increased in most western societies by around 50% over
               Waste growth                                             .         5            .
                                           the last 10-15 years and this will continue’. The Australian Bureau of
                                           Statistics predicts waste in Australia to grow by 7% to around
                                           130m metric tonnes by 2020, compared with only a 3% increase in
                                           population over the same timeframe’.

                  :                        Organic waste in the Eumundi Landfill Site produces 70% of Council’s
                Climate change                                      ie      :    73
                                           greenhouse gas emissions’. Reducing this will reduce greenhouse gas
                                           production and any associated financial liability for Noosa Council.

                                           Eee               6 of 15 }—___—_________-_

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