Overall State Recycling Award - City of Stirling

28/9/98

An innovative program that far exceeds national waste reduction targets has won a local council recognition twice over in the 1998 State Recycling and Waste Reduction Awards, presented by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The City of Stirling was presented with the overall 1998 State Recycling and Waste Reduction Award by Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes, as well as the Local Government Award by Local Government Minister Paul Omodei at an awards ceremony last night.

Stirling is the first Western Australian council to tackle the organic waste component of the domestic waste stream on a large scale, a move that has resulted in 76 per cent of its domestic waste being diverted from landfill in the 1997-98 year.

The national waste reduction target is to halve waste going to landfill by 50 per cent by the year 2000.

Mrs Edwardes said she was pleased to see a local government authority win the main award, because of local government's role in managing domestic waste.

"Organic domestic waste makes up the bulk of waste sent to landfill, and also poses the greatest environmental threat due to leaching of contamination into groundwater and production of greenhouse gases," she said.

"As Stirling is the largest council in WA, this places a great burden on it to manage a waste stream effectively - but at the same time it gives the council a great opportunity to lead the way for other councils."

Over the last five years the city has developed a fully integrated waste management system that addresses four main areas - household hazardous waste, trailer waste, general domestic waste and bulk verge collections.

Hazardous wastes such as household chemicals can be disposed of at a special facility at the Balcatta Transfer Station, and trailer tip waste has been reduced by changing the tip voucher system to encourage pre-delivery separation. The clean green waste is then mulched at the station.

Bulk verge waste has been decreased by collecting clean green material six weeks apart from other bulk waste, which encourages residents to separate their waste before putting it out.

Ten per cent of general domestic waste is diverted through kerbside recycling, and the rest is sent to the Atlas Waste-to-Energy plant in Mirrabooka where it is sorted. The organic materials are then sent outside of Perth to be converted into compost pellets.

Mrs Edwardes said that apart from fulfilling the main judging criteria of reducing, re-using, recycling and recovering resources before waste disposal, Stirling also addressed other criteria including protecting the environment, conserving resources and adding value to recycled goods.

"The major source of environmental pollution from waste disposal comes from the uncontrolled breakdown of organic materials and hazardous materials in landfill," she said.

"The city has managed to remove the bulk of these materials from its waste stream, which has virtually eliminated any new source of contaminated leachate and greenhouse gases.

"In addition, the compost pellets can be used as fertiliser on agricultural land, reducing dependence on the non-renewable chemical fertilisers that affect waterways and contribute to soil acidity and salinity.

"This program therefore not only addresses one of our most pressing urban pollution problems, but is also turning it around into a rural pollution solution."

Mrs Edwardes also congratulated the other award winners: Hyatt Regency Perth, Lions Club of Leeuwin, Walpole Primary School, the South West (WA) Local Government Association, Oil Recovery Service and Vermiculture Project Management Pty Ltd.

Media contact: Nicole Trigwell 9421 7777