Reduce, reuse, recycle… re-imagine waste
Communities worldwide are leading the way in imagining a less wasteful future of resources, which protects the natural environment from harm. Concern about the crisis of plastic waste in our oceans and waterways is one example of the global impact of waste.
These concerns are shared by the residents of the MidCoast.
Our Waste Strategy 2030 focuses on sustainable waste management until 2030. This document builds on our original Waste Strategy 2030, produced in 2019, to better reflect state-wide waste management initiatives.
The strategy establishes priority areas for us to better manage waste as a valuable resource and reduce the environmental impacts of waste disposal. The targets for waste avoidance and reduction will require a change in practices by all sections of the community.
Targets in the strategy align with the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041.
Setting the direction
The strategy sets the strategic direction for waste service planning for the MidCoast to 2030 and beyond.
It sets ambitious targets for waste management that align with the visions and themes of the community. These include the secure delivery of service and infrastructure needs, a reduction of waste sent to landfill and the promoting of a sustainable and healthy environment.
These targets are also aligned with the guiding principles established by the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 and with accepted circular economy practices.
The strategy aims to address projected increases in domestic waste tonnages due to population growth, recycling contamination rates, littering and illegal dumping and landfill gas emissions.
Putting the strategy into action
A detailed action plan has been included to provide steps for each identified action.
Action timeframes and a staged roll-out of tasks will help ensure sufficient personnel and funding resources to achieve the proposed initiatives.
Measuring progress
A range of monitoring and analysis measures for each focus area will measure progress towards achieving the strategy’s targets.
Annual reporting will use MidCoast Council waste data, and regular updates on the roll-out of the action plan will be provided to Council and the community.
View our Waste Strategy 2030 below
To view the combined MidCoast Council Waste Strategy 2030 document in full-screen in the interactive PDF viewer above, select the bracket icon at the bottom-right side the toolbar to enable full-screen.
If you are having trouble viewing the document in the interactive PDF viewer, you may also download the full MidCoast Council Waste Strategy 2030 as a PDF on this page.
How your feedback helped shape our approach
Our draft strategy was placed on exhibition during July-August 2022 to provide the community with an opportunity to review it and tell us if we were on the right track.We received 12 submissions from the community that outlined suggested additions or amendments.
The key topics raised were:
- Public place recycling – the need to make sure it is in place and user friendly
- Bulky waste – the need for a service review with more emphasis on separating items that could be reused
- Recycling needs to improve across the MidCoast
- The need for us to do our bit, and ‘walk the talk’ with recycling and waste avoidance
- The need for a solution for silage wrap
From these submissions we made a number of changes to the strategy, which included:
- Adding in the development of a public place bin program
- Specifying the need to tailor educational approaches to suit different development types
