During the development of the Towards Albury 2050 Community Strategic Plan, you told us that you want our spectacular and unique natural environment to be protected and enhanced. We can achieve this together by continuing to adapt to our changing climate, leading the way in emissions reduction, protecting our natural resources and managing our waste responsibly.
As part of our continued effort to be a leader in this space, and to drive the circular economy, Council recently resolved to seek community feedback on the Draft Albury Waste Management Strategy. This Draft Strategy sets the direction for how we will manage waste into the future, including setting a target of diverting 80% of waste away from landfill by the year 2030.
The Albury Waste Management Centre is our region’s major waste disposal facility, servicing not only our city, but Towong, Greater Hume, Wodonga, Indigo and the Federation Council areas. The Centre typically receives between 150,000 and 210,000 tonnes of waste each year, with 53% of all material being diverted away from landfill, and recycled or recovered for other purposes. I’m proud to say this is one of the highest diversion rates in NSW, and as a community we all should be extremely proud of this result.
What we do know however, is that we still have a way to go to achieve our goal of 80%, and the Draft Albury Waste Management Strategy gives us a clear path to get there by investing in and optimising new infrastructure, improving service delivery, and focusing on waste reduction and education.
Some of the key actions within the Strategy include our highly-anticipated construction and demolition materials recycling facility which is currently under construction; the implementation of an in-vessel composting facility to accept organics including biosolids and commercial food; the implementation of a mechanical biological treatment facility to accept residual, commercial and industrial waste; looking at opportunities to expand the range of materials collected at the kerbside; extending the Halve Waste contract to benefit other Council areas… and much more.
The Draft Albury Waste Management Strategy is just one of the many initiatives that we are implementing to ensure we are delivering on our community’s future vision of having a growing sustainable economy, an enhanced natural environment, being a caring community, and being a leading community.
If you’re passionate about protecting our environment for future generations, or just want to play your part in reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfill, please share your thoughts by 12 April at our Have your say website.
Frank Zaknich
AlburyCity CEO