G21’s five local councils are collaborating to undertake a study identifying the feasibility of a new major waste and recycling hub in the G21 region.
The City of Greater Geelong received $80,000 through the Recycling Victoria Councils Fund to lead the project, working with Colac Otway, Golden Plains, Queenscliffe and Surf Coast.
The study will assess sites, analyse different options and develop a concept design for a preferred model.
The hub will have considerable benefits for the five councils and their ratepayers.
The recent recycling crisis and the fallout in the industry has highlighted the need to improve the waste and recycling infrastructure in the region and minimise the dependency on external markets.
Centralising operations through a purpose-built regional facility will reduce exposure to market forces, increase efficiencies and reduce costs for residential collection services.
The facility would serve three key purposes:
- a materials recovery arm providing technologies to improve the sorting of recyclables and the quality of recovered materials
- a resource recovery centre supporting residents and businesses to recycle, recover and reuse goods and materials
- a bulk haulage transfer station delivering operational efficiencies and cost savings to councils’ waste and recycling services.
The project builds on the strong established partnership among the G21 councils, with support from the Barwon South West Waste and Resource Recovery Group.
