THERE has been no impact on the City of Wanneroo’s waste management services despite the Chinese government implementing stringent controls around importing recyclables.
As Australia’s biggest buyer of recyclable materials, China stopped importing solid waste last year in an effort to reduce pollution.
The move meant that commodity prices dropped, causing some waste collectors to have to pay for recyclables to be taken away and that cost passed on to local governments.
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READ NOWThe City’s waste management contract with Cleanaway has been made confidential but assets director Harminder Singh said that China’s import controls didn’t impact the local area.
“The Chinese government has implemented more stringent controls when accepting imports of plastic, mixed paper, textiles, certain metal recycling residues and other wastes,” he said.
“At this stage, there has been no impact on the City’s current recycling arrangements.”
Without mentioning Cleanaway or when the contract was due to end, Mr Singh said Wanneroo provided its own waste collection services and had contracts in place with “several external contractors” for waste processing.
“The City’s Strategic Waste Management Plan 2016-22 endorsed by council set a number of priorities for waste management for the next five years,” he said.
“Research Alternative Waste Management and Disposal Options was identified as one of those priorities.
“The current review process has been initiated to assess all potential options, in line with that priority, which was set in 2016.”
Mr Singh said recommendations from the review would be presented to council once further analysis had concluded.
In 2016-17, the City generated 87,261 tonnes of waste, 41,152 of which was sent to landfill.
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