Council makes rubbish decisions
Westbury tip in early August 2021. Photo supplied.
Sharon Webb
Deloraine’s tip will transform into a waste transfer station when it becomes full during the next year.
The Cluan Road site, known by users as the Westbury tip, will open a new cell to give the municipality six more years of landfill capacity while a new landfill site is constructed at Deloraine.
Meander Valley Council general manager John Jordan said residents would use the transfer station while the council worked through the EPA approvals, land acquisition and construction process to put in place a new landfill at Deloraine.
Finance director Jonathan Harmey said ratepayers would be prohibited from accessing the tip face ‘from a risk perspective’ but also to improve and make it easier for people to access the service.
Over the next year Deloraine’s landfill site will be upgraded to transition the site to a transfer station, with funding allocated in the 2021-2022 budget.
The plan is for the current Deloraine tip’s landfill area to be capped and rehabilitated in coming years. A schedule for works and improvements at the Cluan landfill site will be determined after council officers finalise the scope of works.
Waste transfer stations will be maintained at Chudleigh, Mole Creek and Meander but this may change after the council’s kerbside collection service contract is renewed.
‘Like every other municipality we are hit hard with industry increases in fees and charges,’ Mr Jordan said.
‘Our current contract has essentially buffered us from too much increase [in costs] but we are now having to run the gauntlet of the market for a new waste tender,’ Mr Jordan said.
‘So over the next 12 months we’ll determine the pricing of a range of options for the municipality.
‘At the very least we’ll consider the 10 townships or areas that get kerbside collection, standardising that service.
‘We hope the pricing will allow us to make decisions about general waste collection, organic garden waste and recycling, to bring a contemporary level of service like Launceston’s.
‘It all depends on the result of the tender with the waste contractors.’
Mr Jordan said that the council would ‘look at’ the current transfer stations at Chudleigh, Mole Creek and Meander if it got favorable pricing for the tender.
‘Our approach is to ask the market what works best for cost effectiveness and value for money. Then we’ll come back to the council with an idea around the extent of change,’ he said.
