A south-west council is calling for a fairer share of the state government’s landfill levy to fund a state-of-the-art composting facility for the region.
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Corangamite Shire is calling for $4 million from the levy for an in-vessel composting facility at its Naroghid Landfill site.
Mayor Jo Beard said the council contributed about $1 million to the landfill levy each year, but were not seeing a return.
“This year when the state government said it had made use of some of the money from that funding, it was spent in metro, so rural and regional areas like ours didn’t necessarily receive any of it, yet we’re contributing millions of dollars to that fund,” she said.
“Yet they want our landfills to become more efficient and sustainable.”
The landfill levy was designed to boost recycling rates and support waste reduction and sustainability initiatives.
“Our ratepayers are spending so much and yet not receiving anything back to be able to do what that landfill levy was actually set up to do,” Cr Beard said.
An in-vessel composting facility ensures composting takes place in an enclosed environment, with accurate temperature control and monitoring.
The green waste could then be used gardens, landscaping and agriculture and divert a significant amount of organic and food waste from landfill.
Corangamite chief executive officer Andrew Mason said the facility would improve the quality and speed of composting and allow the site to a large number of organic industrial wastes that currently create disincentives for business establishing and operating within this region.
“It improves the quality of the end product and it also does create an opportunity for us to accept more or different sources of waste,” he said.
The state government came under fire earlier this year when landfill levy funds were spent on projects such as solar trams.