Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 · Findings of the background paper 26 References 27 Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 - Background Summary 3 ... engagement

Background Summary

Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025

2 Hobsons Bay City Council

Acknowledgements

Council acknowledges all language groups of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of these municipal lands. We recognise the first people’s relationship to this land and offer our respect to their elders past and present.

Council acknowledges the legal responsibility to comply with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 and the Equal Opportunity Act 2010. The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 is designed to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. The Charter gives legal protection to 20 fundamental human rights under four key values that include freedom, respect, equality and dignity.

For further information, or to receive a copy of this document in an alternate format, contact Council on (03) 9932 1000.

CONTENTS

Introduction 5

What is Council’s role? 6

Strategic context 8

Community education, engagement and behaviour change 16

Community initiatives 17

Waste, resource recovery and litter management trends 19

Community satisfaction 24

Findings of the background paper 26

References 27

Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 - Background Summary 3


Council provides waste, resource recovery, and litter services to its community.

INTRODUCTION

1. Municipal solid waste (MSW)—mainly household and Council waste and some construction waste from owner/occupier renovations

2. Commercial and industrial (C&I) waste—business, educational institution and government (other than Council) waste

3. Construction and demolition C&D) waste—residential, civil and commercial construction and demolition waste

A background paper informs the development of the Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 (the strategy). It centres on waste and litter that Council has direct control over or influence on and establishes baseline data. It highlights Federal and Victorian Government strategic objectives and will be used for community engagement to inform the final Strategy.

This is a summary of the background paper and it includes the following:

• Council’s role

• the strategic context

• achievements for 2017-18

• an outline of community education and behaviour change program

• waste and litter management trends and community satisfaction

• findings of the background paper

Waste generation, resource recovery, recycling and landfilling are commonly discussed in terms of the three main waste sectors:



WHAT IS COUNCIL’S ROLE?

In order for Council to undertake its responsibilities and to meet community needs, Council moves through a range of roles. This includes being a planner, capacity builder, service provider, resource provider, partner and broker, and advocate and supporter.

In relation to service delivery, Council provides direct waste and litter services. Council’s primary litter services include the collection of waste from litter bins, illegal dumping, street sweeping, seaweed collections and stormwater management. Council’s waste and recycling services include garbage, recycling, garden waste and hard waste collections.

Council works in partnership with others to provide an annual electronic waste recycling event, a lighting recycling program, and hosts an annual Detox Your Home household chemical recycling event which is coordinated by Sustainability Victoria.

Other services that Council provides to manage waste and litter includes enforcement through local laws and planning for waste management within new developments. Council also monitors waste and litter across the municipality during peak season to ensure a clean and livable municipality. This increases the amenity value, tourism and community pride in hobsons bay.

Council cannot manage waste and litter alone, therefore builds the capacity of the community around waste and litter management through promotion and knowledge around how to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle, as well as targeted campaigns such as cigarette butt litter.

Council does not own or operate a landfill, transfer station or any other type of waste and resource recovery facility therefore works with others to ensure long term planning to support service delivery now and into the future. In addition, Council advocates to other levels of government to ensure that activities to avoid waste are implemented, that best practice waste and litter management services are delivered, that regulations protect the environment and human health and funding is provided to councils and communities.

Being the third level of government, the role of Council is shaped by the Australian and Victorian governments. While each level of government has separate responsibilities, there are areas of mutual interest, shared responsibilities and linked funding arrangements that require collaborative planning and decision-making.


The Waste Management Hierarchy (figure 1) is an internationally recognised classification system that prioritises waste management strategies in order of preference.

Its aim is to extract the most benefit through waste avoidance and conserving resources and thereby reducing waste in the first place. The waste hierarchy is a guiding principle for managing waste and litter.

Figure 1: The Waste Management Hierarchy (Source: Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan (SWRRIP))

AVOIDANCE

Reuse

Recycling

Recovery of energy

Treatment

Containment

Disposal

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

Council’s key waste, litter and resource recovery priorities and actions must reflect the strategic framework of the relevant state and federal policies, legislation, and regulations. In addition, Council must aim to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits.



National policy and strategy

The 2018 National Waste Policy provides a framework for collective action by businesses, governments, communities, and individuals until 2030. The policy focuses on innovation and technology, with five key principals:

• avoid waste

• improve resource recovery

• increase use of recycled materials and markets for recycled products

• better manage material flows to benefit human health, the environment, and the economy

• improve information to support innovation, guide investment, and help consumers make informed decisions

Victorian policy and strategy

The Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan (SWRRIP) provides Victoria with a roadmap to guide future investment in waste management and resource recovery infrastructure, over the next 30 years. It aims to effectively manage the expected mix and volumes of waste, support a viable resource recovery industry and reduce the amount of valuable materials going to landfill. It recognises that Victoria needs to do better to meet the challenges of a changing and growing waste and resource recovery system and increasing population.

The Victorian Organics Resource Recovery Strategy provides a 30-year vision and a five-year action plan to manage organic waste. It aims to increase community and business awareness of food waste avoidance and recovery and develop sustainable end markets for products produced from organic waste processing and build confidence in these products. It also aims to provide local government and industry with information and support to build their capacities to manage organic waste.

The Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan (MWRRIP) highlights the key strategic issues for waste in Metropolitan Melbourne. It has a 30 year vision and identifies priority areas for action for the next four years. The MWRRIP brings together statewide priorities set out in the Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan and applies them within the metropolitan context.

The scope of the MWRRIP addresses commercial, industrial and municipal waste but not construction and demolition waste.

The MWRRIP’s objectives are to:

• reduce waste sent to landfill

• increase organic waste recovered

• deliver community, environmental and economic benefits

• plan for Melbourne’s growing population

Councils must perform waste management functions consistent with the MWRRIP as outlined in Section 80BH of the Environmental Protection Act 1970.

Other Victorian strategies that are of relevance to Hobsons Bay are represented in figure 2.

Provide a statewide roadmap to ensure Victoria has the infrastructure to effectively manage the mix and volumes of waste for the next 30 years

Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan

Improve the quality, timeliness and accessibility of data

Waste Data Governance Framework

Identify infrastructure needs and how these will be met over the next 10 years for each waste and resource recovery region (Seven in total)

Regional Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plans

Educate to reduce waste, increase recovery and improve community engagement

Community and Business Waste Education Strategy

Stimulate markets for recovered resourcesVictorian Market Development Strategy for Recovered Resources

Improve the recovery of organic materialsVictorian Organics Resource Recovery Strategy

Facilitate investment for improved infrastructureInvestment Facilitation Framework

Facilitate collaborative procurement for infrastructure and servicesCollaborative Procurement Framework

Figure 2: An overview of the integrated, state-wide approach to waste and resource recovery in Victoria (Source: Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group)



Local policy and strategy

The Council Plan 2017-21 and the Hobsons Bay 2030 Community Vision provide the overarching strategic context relevant to waste and litter management in Hobsons Bay.

The Hobsons Bay 2030 Community Vision states that by 2030, embracing our heritage, environment and diversity, we - the community of Hobsons Bay – will be an inclusive, empowered, sustainable and visionary community led and supported by a progressive Council of excellence.

The priority that is most relevant to waste and litter management and the Waste and Litter Management Strategy is Priority 5: Activate sustainable practices.

The Council Plan 2017–21 consists of 20 strategic objectives that are framed around four goal areas as follows:

1. An inclusive and healthy community

2. A great place

3. A well designed, maintained and environmentally sustainable place

4. A Council of excellence

The delivery of each goal is supported by objectives and major initiatives identified through the annual budget. The Council Plan 2017-21 goal and objective to which the Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 will contribute to are as follows:

• Goal 3: A well designed, maintained and environmentally sustainable place.

• Objective 3.4 maintain a clean city and encourage the community, business and industry to reduce, reuse and recycle.

An initiative for the 2018-19 Council Plan is the adoption of a new Waste and Litter Management Strategy.

For further detail on the strategic context of waste and little management refer to the full version of the background paper.



2017-18 AchievementsHobsons Bay is proud of its waste and litter management achievements to date. We provide many successful programs to help achieve our vision.

of waste from landfill was diverted and our greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by over 2,000 kilograms by installing a section of the Skeleton Creek Trail with concrete reinforced with 100 per cent recycled plastic fibres

from the 8,656 hard waste collections completed were recycled

66% approx.tonnes of seaweed was recycled

320of e-waste was collected through our annual e-waste recycling program

13,000KG

120KGWe provided waste and recycling services to the community that achieved

46.33%being recycled through the recycling bin and the green waste collection services

community members participated in waste and litter programs during 2017-18

kilograms of light globes were recycled during 2017-18

of food waste from landfill and saved over $6,000 in landfill costs

workshops were hosted on how to avoid food waste with over 150 participants5

More than 3,000

More than 300

$16,50030,000KGin Environment Grants were provided, supporting nine community led programs

We ran a lighting recycling program with Bunnings Altona and Simmers Hardware, Williamstown

Since June 2018 our Compost Revolution program has diverted

cigarette butt bins were installed across the municipality and distributed 2,000 personal ashtrays

59

9smart bin sensors were implemented and six compactor bins to improve the efficiency of litter bin collections

We collected litter from

580litter bins across the municipality

community members attended World Environment Day Festival at Williamstown Town Hall on Sunday, 3 June 2018

businesses were provided with commercial cardboard collections

was provided to the community with 96 per cent of the community being very satisfied or satisfied with Council’s waste and recycling services and 83 per cent very satisfied or satisfied with Council’s maintenance and cleaning of public areas

community groups and individuals participated in the Clean Up Australia Day

150 approx.

More than 400

More than 300A zero

More than 400

42

More than 100

waste event at the EnviroCentre was hosted at the Altona Library

children participated in the Schools Environment Program

garage sales were supported through the Garage Sale Trail program with more than 1,600 participants

participants safely recycled approximately 2,900 kilograms of chemicals at our hosted annual Detox Your Home events

garbage bins

We collected

2,099,944

recycling bins

1,033,000

garden waste bins

675,332

A high level of service


COMMUNITY EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT AND BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Council has a role to ensure its community is well informed and is provided with opportunities to take responsibility for managing their own waste and litter by reducing, reusing and recycling before disposing appropriately.

Council has limited control over people’s behaviours so support from community groups, business, industry, and the Australian and Victorian Governments to spread the message is important.

There are a few different ways that Council supports waste and litter reduction in our community. These include awareness raising and behavioural change activities such as education programs through schools, My Smart Gardens program, Compost Revolution, the national Garage Sale Trail, and World Environment Day.

Council also provides a website and runs social media activities such as the Say No to Plastic Bags campaign and promoting the Victorian Government’s Love Food Hate Waste program to increase awareness and build capacity of the community.

Boomerang Bags

Following community concerns regarding the environmental impact of plastic shopping bags, local volunteers from the Friends of Williamstown Wetlands, the Country Women’s Association, the Loom Room and the Altona Village Traders Association partnered to bring the national Boomerang Bags movement to Hobsons Bay in 2016.

Boomerang Bags aim to reduce the use of plastic bags by engaging local communities in the making of reusable fabric shopping bags using recycled and unwanted fabrics. The bags are distributed into the community as free, fun, sustainable alternatives to plastic bags.

Council provided funds via the Environmental Grants program for local events and for the purchase of equipment such as sewing machines. Together with Council’s Say no to Plastic Bags campaign, the Altona Coles supermarket has reported a 25 per cent reduction in single use plastics bags.

Recycling Made Easy

The Recycling Made Easy program aims to make recycling easier for the Hobsons Bay community by establishing drop off collection points for a variety of different common household items that often can’t be recycled in the kerbside recycling service.

The project was initiated through a trial made possible through Council’s 2018 Environmental Grants program. It has been received by the public with enthusiasm with 86 kilograms collected in three months. Council has since provided ongoing funding to continue the collection service at nine locations across Hobsons Bay.

COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

Hobsons Bay supports its local community groups in action against waste and litter. Our community groups have achieved significant action towards reducing waste and litter and are supported by our advocacy and grants programs.



Sustainable Living Project - Louis Joel Community Centre

The Sustainable Living Project was made possible through Council’s 2018 Environmental Grants program. It was developed in response to community interest to better understand how to recycle common and uncommon items. The Louis Joel Community Centre ran multiple gallery exhibitions highlighting the effect of litter on the local environment and how to correctly recycle household items.

The project also produced four popular community booklets that highlighted the need to reduce waste production as well as how to recycle or reuse the waste we create.

Wader Beach Litter Hotspot Project

The Friends of Williamstown Wetlands’ (FOWW) ‘Wader Beach for Birds not Litter’ project received two rounds of funding from the Victorian Government. Wader Beach is an environmentally sensitive area on the northwest shoreline of Port Phillip Bay. It is home to remnant saltmarsh vegetation and many resident and migratory wader birds. Most of the litter that accumulates there comes from bay debris deposited by wind, tide and flash flooding. The bay’s prevailing southwesterly winds and clockwise tidal currents makes Wader Beach’s westerly aspect a natural litter trap.

Beginning in 2015 the project was a collaboration of local community environmental group’s concerned about plastic marine pollution. These included the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary Care Group, Scab Duty, Friends of Greenwich Bay, the 3016 Beach Patrol) and the Sea Shepherd Marine Debris Team.

With support from Council, the project identified major sources and types of litter deposited on Wader Beach, improved the knowledge of local waterways and stormwater management infrastructure and raised community awareness about litter hotspots, local waterways and litter minimisation. Findings from this project have since helped Council to identify marine litter hotspots and will be used in drainage and storm water management strategies.

WASTE, RESOURCE RECOVERY AND LITTER MANAGEMENT TRENDS

Council measures the amount of waste and litter collected, disposed of and recycled through its waste, recycling and litter management services.

Council provides waste and litter services to its community via garbage, recycling, green and hard waste collection services for households, community organisations and businesses.

Council also manages public litter collection, stormwater management, street sweeping, beach cleaning and seaweed removal.

Figure 3 shows that in 2017-18 there was a two per cent decrease in recycling collected through recycling, green waste bins and hard waste collections from 2016-17. The total amount of waste collected through garbage, recycling, green waste bins and hard waste collections also decreased by one per cent from 2016-17.

Waste* collected by financial year

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

22,000

24,000

2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18

Landfilled from garbage and hard waste services

Recycled through recycling and green waste bins and hard waste services

Landfilled from litter services

Recycled from litter services

Figure 3: Total waste and recycling landfilled and recycled from 2009-10 to 2017-18 from waste and litter collection services (garbage, recycling, green waste, hard waste collections, litter bin collections, stormwater, street sweeping, beach cleaning, and seaweed removal)



The amount of litter landfilled through the different means has declined significantly and is largely due to changes in the amount of seaweed. The amount of seaweed that is produced is affected by variables such as tidal movements, nutrient sources, health of the seaweed and weather conditions.

Diversion rates across councils are mostly dependent on the format and frequency of garden waste, collection services, size of bins used for these services, seasonal weather influences and community demographics and behaviour towards reducing waste and recycling.

Table 1 below is results of the Local Government Performance Reporting Framework for 2017-18. It shows that Council’s waste diversion from landfill is slightly higher than the statewide average.

Table 1: Percentage of garbage, recyclables and garden waste collected from kerbside bins that is diverted from landfill (2017-18) (Source: Local Government Performance Reporting 2017-18)

Expected range Hobsons Bay Comparable metropolitan councils

All Victorian councils

20 to 60% 46.33% 45.10% 44.69%

Figure 4 shows the composition of the Victorian municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial waste streams, indicates that the majority of waste is food waste (35%), plastics (15%) and paper/cardboard (10%). While this is based on Victorian wide data, it provides a good understanding and potential future interventions required to minimise waste to landfill, such as recovering more through existing recycling services, introducing food waste recovery services, and seeking alternative treatment solutions to landfilling.

Figure 4: Indicative composition of municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial material entering landfills, 2014 (Source: Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan 2016)

Glass 3%

Other 3%

Aggregates Masonry and Soil 4%

Metals 3%

Wood/timber 1%

E-waste 1%

PfW 1%

Food waste 35% Plastics 15%

Paper/cardboard 10%

Garden waste 7%

Other organic 7%

Nappies 6% Textiles 4%



Illegal dumping in Hobsons Bay is not as high as in other councils. However it still impacts the environment, amenity and financial resources of Council. Furniture and mattresses are commonly dumped items and mostly in industrial areas. Other items include paper, cardboard and textiles.

To reduce illegal dumping Council undertakes a range of initiatives including: installing CCTV at illegal dumping hot spot sites in industrial areas, enforcement through local laws, and promoting Council’s hard waste collection services, annual electronic waste recycling, and household chemical collection services.

The Keep Australia Beautiful National Litter Index (NLI) shows that there is a long-term trend of reducing litter in Victoria. In Victoria, cigarette litter represents approximately 53 per cent of items counted, while takeaway food packaging is 15 per cent. Beverage container litter accounts for approximately seven per cent of litter. Plastic bags accounted for one per cent of litter.

Waste and litter disposal costs have increased significantly over the years mainly due to the increase in landfill levy. Garden waste and hard waste costs have remained relatively stable over time. Recycling costs dropped in 2011 when Council’s contract with SKM Recycling resulted in income to Council when it had previously paid for recyclables to be processed. The China recycling reforms have meant costs have increased from March 2018 meaning Council, like other councils across Victoria, now pay for recycling to be processed. Trends from Council’s recycling and garbage collection costs are consistent with the Victorian trends. Work will continue across the state to reduce costs. Council also advocates for funding from the Victorian Government landfill levy kept in the Sustainability Fund to reduce the financial burden.



COMMUNITY SATISFACTION

Council’s annual community survey is used to measure Council’s performance on a range of key indicators including waste and litter. It is implemented with a statistically representative sample of 800 Hobsons Bay residents who indicate their level of satisfaction with Council’s services.

In 2018 garbage, recycling and garden waste collection services were within the top four of the 44 services evaluated that the community indicated a high level of satisfaction with. The hard waste collection services ranked seventh with a slight improvement in satisfaction from 2017. Overall, of the residents surveyed, 96 per cent are highly satisfied or satisfied with Council’s waste and recycling collection services.

The survey also indicated that the provision and maintenance of parks, gardens, open space, and the foreshore was ranked tenth of the 44 services evaluated. The maintenance and cleaning of public areas (including litter collection and graffiti removal) was ranked twenty-sixth. Of residents surveyed, 83 per cent of residents were highly satisfied or satisfied with Council’s maintenance and cleaning of public areas.



FINDINGS OF THE BACKGROUND PAPER

They include the following:

• implement household food waste recovery services

• actively seek alternatives to landfilling for waste from Council’s waste and litter management services

• reviewing the scope of Council’s waste and litter management services

• investigate and support local waste and resource recovery facilities

• support community behaviour change and education to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle waste and litter

• advocate on key issues of importance to Council and its community, including government investment, product stewardship and policy and regulatory support and leadership

• improve waste avoidance and resource recovery in Council’s operations including policy, process and action

The background paper highlights key opportunities for action for the Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 that concentrates on avoidance, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery rather than disposal to landfill. These opportunities focus on Council’s areas of control or influence and national, state and metropolitan strategic direction.

REFERENCES Hobsons Bay Community Satisfaction Survey 2017, Hobsons Bay City Council

Hobsons Bay 2030 Community Vision Snapshot Report, Hobsons Bay City Council

Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan 2016, Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group

Local Government Performance Reporting 2016-17, Local Government Victoria

Recycling Industry Strategic Plan 2018, Department Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan (SWRRIP), Sustainability Victoria

Sustainability Victoria Waste Data 2015-16, Sustainability Victoria

Victorian Local Government Annual Waste Services Report 2015-16, Sustainability Victoria


HOBSONS BAY LANGUAGE LINE

9932 1212 INTERPRETER SERVICE FOR ALL LANGUAGES

AND RECORDED COUNCIL INFORMATION IN:

English

Your Council in your language

HOBSONS BAY CITY COUNCIL115 Civic Parade, AltonaPO Box 21, Altona 3018Phone (03) 9932 1000 Fax (03) 9932 1090NRS phone 133 677 and quote 03 9932 1000Email [email protected]

www.twitter.com/HobsonsBayCC

www.facebook.com/HobsonsBayCityCouncil

www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au

Documents

Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 · Findings of the background paper 26 References 27 Draft Waste and Litter Management Strategy 2025 - Background Summary 3 ... engagement