Western Sydney councils collaborate on waste management

Ten Western Sydney councils are taking a regional approach to waste management with the formation of the Western Sydney Regional Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy. Supported by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, the strategy aims to combat growing waste generation in a growing area.

According to the president of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC), Councillor Tony Hadchiti, Western Sydney’s waste generation is set to hit over 1 million tonnes per year by 2021. “This is the equivalent of garbage trucks filled with waste queued back to back from Sydney to Brisbane,” Cllr Hadchiti said.

Participating councils - Auburn, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, The Hills, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta and Penrith - have thus set the target of diverting 70% of their waste from landfill by the year 2021. Cllr Hadchiti explained, “We have set such an ambitious goal because we see great room for improvement.”

Cllr Hadchiti stated that a WSROC-led waste management team will “ensure collaboration and knowledge sharing are central to how we approach waste moving forward”. A number of Western Sydney councils have already won awards for outstanding waste management projects, he noted, so by working together, “councils can take advantage of these best practice initiatives”.

Key strategy targets include:

• increasing household waste recycled to 70% by the year 2021,
• establishing 10 Community Recycling Centres (or similar waste management solutions) in Western Sydney by 2021,
• reducing per household waste generation,
• reducing littering and illegal dumping,
• improving regional cooperation and collaboration.

For more information on the strategy, visit http://www.wsroc.com.au/issues-campaigns/regional-waste-strategy.

Image caption: WSROC President Cllr Tony Hadchiti.