Waste Management Strategy

Waste management has been a particular issue for Bywong, Sutton and Wamboin residents since 2004, when Council first presented drafts of its 25 year Waste Management Strategy and advised its intention to close Council landfill sites. While the replacement of six of the seven original landfill sites in Palerang with Waste Transfer Stations was part of this strategy, there was no plan to replace the landfill site on Macs Reef Road. In its strategy document, Council proposed that Bywong, Sutton and Wamboin residents would either use the Bungendore Waste Transfer Station, or pay for a local roadside collection service.

This issue came to a head when Council passed a motion, at its April 2009 meeting, to conduct a trial of a roadside collection service in Bywong, Sutton East and Wamboin. This action was taken against the recommendation of Community Associations representing all three of these areas. Following more vocal opposition from the communities involved, Council agreed, at its May 2009 meeting, to conduct a formal survey in affected areas to determine current community attitudes towards future waste management strategies, before proceeding with any roadside collection trial.

A Waste Management Working Group, comprising council staff, councillors and community representatives, was established to monitor the development of an appropriate waste management strategy for the Bywong, Sutton East and Wamboin areas. The proceedings of the WMWG are maintained on the Wamboin Community Association website. To date, however, following an overwhelming response to the survey prepared by the WMWG, Council has cancelled its plans to trial a roadside collection service and agreed to proceed with the construction of a waste transfer station at the Macs Reef Road landfill site, to be operational before the landfill site is closed.

The Bywong Community Association has also prepared a simple FAQ sheet on the planned WTS.

Following general community acceptance of this process for dealing with the implementation of Council's waste management strategy, Council has undertaken to survey communities prior to the introduction of new services. Brief comments about each survey, as well as copies of the survey forms, a summary of the individual results and access to a database containing all survey responses, can be viewed by following the Surveys link in the left side menu.