Role of local government in waste management

A local governments main responsibilities in managing community waste is to: arrange for waste to be collected regularly from households store, recycle, or dispose of waste properly. Other roles include educating and informing their community of ways they can help manage waste.

Regional plans - sharing the costs

Councils in smaller communities can improve the quality of their waste management services, and cut their costs, by developing waste plans with nearby councils. A regional waste plan could allow councils to share staff, equipment, and facilities. For example, two or more councils could work together to: run one vehicle to collect rubbish in all their communities hire one driver or team to handle the collection set up a single recycling centre set up a single centre for handling dangerous goods. A regional waste plan can also help deal with waste problems along a council boundary, such as a creek or river.

Waste collection
In larger regional centres, local governments contract commercial operators to collect household waste. For small communities, it can be difficult to interest commercial operators in providing a regular collection service. If your council provides the local waste collection service, the following points can help make it efficient.

Weekly household waste collection

Provide each household with a standard size bin. Have waste collected on the same day each week. Let households know what types of waste should be, and should not be, placed in their bins. (Perhaps place stickers on the bins.) Ensure that the vehicle collecting the bins is the right design. Can bins be safely lifted and emptied? Is the collected waste secure so it will not fall off as the vehicle moves? Ensure that the people collecting the waste have the right training. Do they know safe ways to lift and empty bins? Do they know what to do if they find dangerous goods in household waste? Check that the council rubbish tip is designed to make unloading the collected waste safe. A council levy can be placed on each household to help pay for the collection service.

Special collections (community clean-ups)

Special collections help households get rid of larger items or dangerous goods rather than let them rot or rust in yards, pollute the land or harm the community. Special collections can be done at intervals throughout the year. Advise households well in advance of the date for these special collections and the types of waste being collected. You could tie these collections in with a special event, such as Clean Up Australia day or the Keep Australia Beautiful - Tidy Towns campaign. A clean-up could also be held the week before a sporting or cultural gathering hosted by your community. This will have many positive effects, including increasing the sense of pride the community has in its town and impressing the visitors! top of page

Waste disposal (council rubbish tips)

Every council must provide a safe, secure location where collected rubbish can be dumped, and where community members can take extra household rubbish. More information and links are on the Rubbish Tip Management page. Before you build, open or run a tip, you need to find out what environmental laws you need to comply with. These laws aim to protect the environment (the land, water, air and other things) from pollution and contamination. Important: To run a council tip, you may need an environmental licence from the Environmental Protection Agency in the state government. This licence lists the things the council must do to make sure its tip doesnt pollute the environment. Contact your local office of the Environmental Protection Agency for more information.

Contaminated land (including rubbish tips)

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, local governments must identify and manage contaminated land in their areas. Councils must also notify the Environmental Protection Agency about that land. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, operating a council rubbish tip is classed as a Notifiable Activity. The land where a tip is located is Contaminated Land. Your council must register the location of a rubbish tip with the Environmental Protection Agency. Youll find links to information about notifiable activities and registering Contaminated Land on the Environmental Protection Agency website: Guidelines and Information Sheets. Also on the EPA website, youll find: Draft Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Contaminated Land. Please note: These Draft Guidelines refer to Department of the Environment (DOE). The name of DOE has been changed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

After your council registers land with the EPA as Contaminated Land, the Council must maintain a record of this land (for land-use planning and decisions on development applications). Community members who want information about land recorded on the EMR or CLR should be asked to contact the EPA.

Litter
There are laws against littering, and councils can fine offenders. However, the best long-term strategy for beating a littering problem is community education, especially with anti-litter programs for school children. Litter creates hazards. Broken bottles and tins, for example, can injure people. Dengue mosquitoes breed in water trapped in bottles. People are more likely to drop litter in places that already have litter lying around. As well as community awareness campaigns on litter, councils can reduce litter by providing permanent or temporary bins in places such as: outside community stores at sporting fields at cultural and special events in parks and other family gathering areas The bins should prevent animals or birds scavenging in the rubbish, and keep out rain and wind. You can find suppliers of outdoor rubbish bins through a search on the Internet or maybe through your local telephone directory. Youll find some education resources on the SEQ Healthy Waterways site. Other useful sites are Waste Education Initiatives in Townsville and Logan City Council (Waste Services). Organisations, such as Keep Australia Beautiful and Clean Up Australia might also be able to help with resources and education programs. top of page

Asbestos
Councils that own houses in their communities are responsible for repairs and maintenance of the buildings. Councils need to be aware of what is required when repairing or demolishing a house that contains asbestos. Asbestos can create serious health problems if the fibres come loose from sheeting and are breathed in. Asbestos is most likely to be found in the roofing or walls of buildings built before the late 1980s. Demolishing or repairing buildings that contain asbestos should only be done by suitably trained and licensed professionals. These contractors must now hold a licence to work with asbestos. You might also find asbestos in an old rubbish tip or it could be brought into the community in second-hand building material. The state governments Workplace Health and Safety website has important information on: what laws apply what asbestos is and where it is found how to identify asbestos health risks working with asbestos. The Public Health Act 2005 and the Regulation also legislates about asbestos under public health risks. There is information on the Queensland Health asbestos website for home renovators and also Local Governments.

Contractors' rubbish
When hiring a building contractor to work on a project in the community, the council should demand that the contractor removes all rubbish after the project is completed. To ensure this is done, the council could get a cash bond from the contractor, or withhold final payment until the site is inspected by the EHW or other officer and declared 'clean'. These conditions should be clearly written into the contract so that the contractor knows what is expected. A building contract should also state that the rubbish is to be disposed of legally at a proper waste or recycling facility or even taken back to where the contractors come from. This will increase the life of the council tip. Removing building rubbish is especially important for island communities where land area is limited.

Suppliers' rubbish
When ordering material or equipment from suppliers, the council should require the supplier to minimise packaging. Where possible, council should require that the supplier take back the packaging for recycling or disposal. This will also increase the life of the council tip.

Support and resources

If you or your council needs additional resources or advice on waste management, first consult your Environmental Health Coordinator. Your EHC might recommend you also contact other agencies for funding or expert assistance. State and Commonwealth grant and subsidy information can be found at: Australian Government: GrantsLink Grants and Subsidies (Qld Government). You may also get additional advice and assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Role of the community/Individual in waste management

People have a right to live in a clean, safe environment. Individuals and households also have a responsibility to protect their local environment, and to ensure that their waste does not create a health problem or nuisance for neighbours. People should be made aware that penalties can be applied to those who breach local or state laws. Community members responsibilities in managing their waste include: keeping their yards free of rubbish that is likely to attract or shelter vermin (eg. old car bodies, piles of building material, food scraps, or garden waste) securing rubbish bins against scavenging dogs, rats and other animals making their bins available for regular council collection cleaning up dog waste regularly to prevent flies breeding preventing their dog wandering and soiling public areas or neighbours yards taking excess household waste to the council waste tip not illegally dumping waste, especially hazardous waste. Youll find ideas for generating community awareness and involvement in managing waste on the Community Awareness Campaigns page.

Build a Community Team

Some insights on building a team of people who support your work in environmental health can be found on the Indigenous Community Environmental Health website. Please click: Communities - Resources.
Indian MSW Composition Municipal waste in developing countries tend to have a higher organic and ash/grit content, and also a higher moisture content. It has been estimated that recyclable content in solid waste varies from 13 to 20% and compostable material is about 65 to 80% In India, waste generation is expected to increase to a mammoth figure of 300 million by 2047, i.e., from the present 500 grams to 945 grams per capita. The estimated land requirement for disposal of such huge quantum of waste would be 169.6 sq. kms as compared to 20.2 sq. kms in 1997. This escalation could be accounted to Indias population explosion, change in consumption patterns among urban populations and relatively high spate of waste generation, which has a direct relationship with the amount of waste generated in a community. Some Experiments Solid Waste Management cannot be successful without the involvement of all stakeholders who have a vital role to play in successful implementation of the scheme. It is worthwhile to examine some of the initiatives in this regard. Bhagidari Scheme in Delhi The Delhi Government instituted the Bhagidari Scheme for ensuring close cooperation of the Residents Welfare Association (RWAs), civic agencies and the government. A step in the right direction was taken by getting a court order for compulsory segregation of waste at the household level from January 1, 2004. It is one thing to bring about a legislation and another to ensure its compliance and implementation. Like most environmental legislations in Delhi, (Section 353 (C) of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act), there are very few, may be miniscule, who religiously segregate the waste at source. One can only deduce that such an activity does not exist perhaps in the Indian psyche. People do not see it as their responsibility but that of the municipality. In December 2003 (Hindustan Times 26.12.2003), the Municipal Commissioner of Delhi announced a system by which segregated garbage from homes would be transported to municipal bins through specially designed handcarts having two compartments. He further mentioned that the segregation system would reduce 50 per cent of the garbage going to landfills and thereby result in cost reduction. In the initial phase, zones were selected in colonies like Hauz Khas, Gulmohar Park, Vasant Vihar, Green Park, Safdarjung Enclave and Sewa Nagar. Due to various reasons, the scheme has not really taken off. As a matter of fact, in one zone (Sewa Nagar) the bins that were located on the side of a road had been pilfered. Only in some colonies, where RWAs decided to tackle the problem themselves, the scheme is working.