The Halve Waste campaign has now been running for more than a year and has finally put an end to the ever growing quantity of waste to landfill according to Albury City Council. If the amount of waste to landfill was to follow its historical growth trajectory it would have seen an increase of nearly 10,000 tonnes since June last year. However, the most recent figures show that the amount of waste sent to Albury Waste Management Centre has stabilised and even reduced.
Halve Waste estimates that more than 16,000 tonnes have been avoided so far, which is a combination of the 10,000 tonnes which could have been expected under a business-as-usual scenario, as well as another 6,000 tonnes which have been diverted from landfill.
Andrea Baldwin, waste management officer with the Albury City Council said that reductions have been seen in the amount of C&D and municipal wastes.
“Before the introduction of the Halve Waste campaign, Albury was landfilling about 200,000 tonnes of waste per year. Since the program was launched in June 2010, waste to landfill has stabilised and even started to reduce…we are now landfilling 192,000 tonnes per year.”
Albury’s diversion rate from landfill was sitting at around 21% and although there are no official figures as yet, Baldwin said she would not be surprised if the figure had increased to around 30%.
“The results of the Halve Waste campaign so far are largely due to the efforts of the community which has whole-heartedly embraced the campaign,” said Baldwin.
After removing the hard waste collection from its area, AlburyCity Council ran a campaign which asked residents to consider their purchasing and secondary uses for materials before disposing of them; and also to put the right materials in their recycling bin.
The council has also been conducting an organics trial involving 300 households which has been successful to date and will continue for an additional three months.
Albury’s current waste contracting company, Transpacific Cleanaway, is running a two-bin kerbside collection system in the region, but with the contract now up for tender, Baldwin said a third optional bin will be considered for organics collection.
The tender will close in two months and Baldwin said the council hopes to nominate before the end of the year for the contract to supply waste services to its 50,000 households or 120,000 residents.
Given that Albury receives waste to its landfill from other surrounding council areas, it has partnered with the Halve Waste campaign to assist in gaining the endorsement of the Mayors from Albury, Corowa, Greater Hume, Towong, Indigo and Wodonga and the 15 other councils represented by RAMROC (the Riverina and Murray Regional Organisation of Councils).
Baldwin said the introduction of the Halve Waste campaign had been a “wake up call” and that Albury had to put in some strong policies such as raising waste management fees in order to fund the infrastructure and education that is required to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
The landfill is also about to receive a gas extraction system, which Albury City Council hopes will be operational before June 2011. It is keen to gain an understanding of what its carbon liability will be moving forward. However, in the face of a possible $4 million cost to council without gas extraction, its installation could make a significant difference to the council’s bottom line.
