Friends
of Nillumbik asked Council: Next Sunday night the SBS program ‘Dateline’ is featuring a report on how e-waste is being dumped by countries from around the world including Australia, polluting rivers and land and people in Ghana (Africa) with toxic chemicals such as mercury and lead. In light of this isn't it time the Council started to do more? Is Council aware that on Saturday 17 September 2011 Stonnington Shire Council held an e-waste Recycling Day at its depot for ratepayers to bring old computers, household appliances and miscellaneous items to be recycled? Will Council seriously investigate the possibility of undertaking a similar action in the future? Conal Creedon, General Manager Infrastructure Services, responded: Council is aware of the growing quantities of e-waste and of the absence of comprehensive re-use or recycling programs to manage this. On 8 August 2011 the Australian Government introduced the Product Stewardship Act to deal with this issue and established protocols for product stewardship to avoid ‘dumping’ of products in Australia or overseas.’ The Product Stewardship Act and subordinate legislation will provide for an industry run and funded national recycling scheme for televisions and computers. However, at a local level Council has just negotiated an addition to its kerbside hard waste collection service to separate and collect e-waste for recycling. Residents will be notified of the arrangements for this when the hard waste collection commences in November. Friends of Nillumbik asked Council: Because of the rains there has been an explosion in the growth and proliferation of the weed commonly known as ‘Broom’ (Genista) especially on roadsides in the northern parts of the Shire. Does Council have plans to deal with this before the Broom runs to seed and adds to the seed bank already in the soil? Conal Creedon, General Manager Infrastructure Services, responded: Council has a number of weed control programs in place and has had considerable success with controlling weeds, particularly in the last two years due to Council and State funded initiatives. There is not a specific program targeting Broom however officers report that extensive removal occurs in conjunction with other programs such as fire prevention works and roadside mowing. |