CONCERNS surrounding Mount Gambier’s household waste disposal habits have been voiced after it was revealed around 60pc of rubbish is being incorrectly disposed and sent to landfill.
Mount Gambier City Council infrastructure manager Nick Serle said of the 250,000 tonnes of rubbish transported to Caroline Landfill annually, only around 40pc was residual rubbish.
“Residual rubbish has to go to landfill because we have nowhere else for it to go,” Mr Serle said.
“But a vast amount of the material making its way there should be making its way to somewhere better.”
Council currently spends around $1m annually maintaining its Caroline Landfill site due to high demand, including the capping and construction of cells.
Roughly 45pc of residential general waste bins collected in the Blue Lake city also contain organic waste, made up of food scraps (35pc) and green waste (9pc).
“What we want is to get the organics out of the landfill and any recyclable material into the recycling bin,” Mr Serle said.
Council environment sustainability officer Aaron Izzard said the green waste heading to landfill caused a vast amount of greenhouse gases, highlighting the effects as devastating.
“What having greenwaste in landfill does is produce methane gas, which is a dangerous gas but it also creates leachate which is the liquid coming out of landfill,” Mr Izzard said.
“We then have to manage it all so it does cost council in regards to construction and management costs.”
Council builds new cells every two years to cater for demand, yet Mr Izzard believes it should be every five if community members banded together and did the right thing.
“Even though it seems like it is just an apple core or it is just a bottle, if we add it up per person in each household everyday of the week then every month and year, it really adds up,” Mr Izzard said.
“People can make such a difference simply by putting their food scraps into the kitchen caddy council has provided.
“This will then also save the cost for the community as well because we will not be needing to spend so much on landfill each year.”
Council elected members will discuss the impacts of landfill this month, with the local government body canvassing the need for a new employee to help support its waste management services.
Mr Serle recently reported to council on the pressure the infrastructure team was under, stating an extra employee would provide relief across the entire department.
“Because of the tonnes that have been going to landfill within the past 10 years, I believe we may be getting to the point where we may need an extra employee,” Mr Serle said.
“It is simply due to the amount of increased tonnage that has been going out there which has not happened suddenly, it has been a slow increase over a number of years.”
