Waste Centre Review – Benefits And Costs To Be Weighed
THE City of Melville is the next local government in line to reconsider whether it will continue to use the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council’s (SMRC) Regional Resource Recovery Centre (RRRC) in Canning Vale.
A report is expected to outline whether the environmental benefits associated with disposal of the City’s waste at the Regional Resource Recovery Centre composting facility outweighs the costs of doing so.
The City has flagged the increasing cost of disposal at the RRRC as the primary concern to be addressed by the review.
At the moment, the cost of waste disposal at the RRRC is $182.75 per tonne, but draft budget parameters show a proposed increase of 6 per cent to $193.75 per tonne.
Cr Rasa Subramaniam put the Rockingham landfill facility forward as a possible alternative, with the cost of disposing waste at approximately $86.50 per tonne.
Melville acting chief executive John Christie said the City would not be able to decide what to do until the report had been completed.
“The council has resolved that a report be prepared to examine the total costs, risks and environmental outcomes of undertaking municipal waste disposal and recyclables at the RRRC versus other disposal mechanisms available to the City,” he said.
“The City has a contractual relationship with the SMRC and any future decisions would need to be considered in light of the contractual agreement.
“Until the investigation and report has been completed and reported to Council, the City remains committed to the SMRC.”
The SMRC has been in the spotlight in the past two years, with the City of Canning and the City of Rockingham pulling out, as well as numerous odour complaints by residents of neighbouring suburbs, including Leeming.
The City of Melville’s report into the waste disposal issue is expected to take between three and four months to compile.
