Posts related to 'urban amenity'

Maroondah Leader: Push for Maroondah to go carbon neutral

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 28th of October, 2008

The Maroondah Sustainability Strategy has reached draft status and was endorsed for public exhibition at the last Council meeting. Public comments and submissions can be made about the strategy up to the 1st of December, whereby this feedback will be considered when the policy is finalised at a future council meeting.

The Maroondah Sustainability Strategy will guide the council’s approach to energy, water, transport and resource usage for the next four years and it is therefore critical that the document sets proactive environmental targets.

The Maroondah Leader has reported on the Draft Strategy, including its carbon neutral target of 2020:

Cr Alex Makin, who also voted to support the draft plan, said the council should set an interim target to ensure it reached its 2020 goal.

Currently there are no interim targets to measure council’s progress towards reaching carbon neutrality. While I personally believe that the target should potentially be brought forward to 2012, it is also imperative that interim goals are established to guide council budgets and to measure progress towards becoming carbon neutral.

Back in the year 2000 the then council set a target of reducing energy consumption by 20% by the year 2010. Unfortunately due to the lack of interim targets this was largely forgotten until public pressure along with myself, Jo-anne Taylor and Maureen forced the council to recommit to this goal.

It is therefore essential that any carbon neutral target includes appropriate interim goals to measure progress and keep council accountable for its performance in meeting this objective.

Rotary Club of Ringwood - discussing recycling

Published by Alex Makin on Wednesday 24th of September, 2008

The Rotary Club of Ringwood, one of the 51 clubs within Rotary District 9810 and part of Rotary International, meets each Wednesday evening at the Ringwood Club on the corner of Oban Road and Maroondah Highway.

Tonight’s meeting discussed council’s recycling program and the importance of correctly utilising the recycling bins that are provided. Victoria produces 9.5 million tonnes of waste per annum, with 5.07 million tonnes being recycled. Waste that is not recycled ends up in landfills and detrimentally impacts the environment.

Maroondah produces 53,167 tonnes of waste on an annual basis, with 12,932 tonnes being recycled using a mixture of hand and mechanical sorting. Maroondah provides a green waste bin and a blue recyclable bin for glass, cartons, paper and plastics. Contamination of these bins, that is where materials that cannot be recycled are placed in these bins, means that up to 20% of Maroondah’s waste in unnecessarily diverted to landfill.

Recycled waste cannot be contaminated with other waste as this means that the entire load cannot be re-used and instead must go into landfill. The major source of contamination is from plastic bags, which cannot be stored in either the green waste bin or the blue recyclable bin. The Maroondah garbage trucks have a 350 bin capacity. This means that even if one bin has inappropriate contents it can cause the entire contents of the truck to be diverted to landfill instead of being recycled.

Recycling minimises resource usage and improves our sustainability. Examples of recycled products include the new street furniture along the Mullum and Eastlink trails and the wheelie bins themselves.

It is great to see the Rotary Club of Ringwood involved in environmental issues and recycling. It is important that our community is able to correctly recycle waste and minimise our impact on the environment.

Heatherdale Community Action Group - discussing Heatherdale Reserve

Published by Alex Makin on Wednesday 9th of April, 2008

At tonight’s Heatherdale Community Action Group meeting I discussed the Heatherdale Reserve Landscape Plan, which is located in Vermont abutting Heatherdale Road and the Dandenong Creek.

Council has received a grant through the Dandenong Creek Living Links project and is currently undertaking consultation as to the facilities that the community would welcome at the reserve. I distributed a survey at the meeting to encourage feedback and it was great to see a strong interest from the Heatherdale community in regard to this reserve.

The funding received for the reserve will allow council to begin implementation of a final landscape plan and to incorporate the community feedback.

Maroondah Journal: Concern over fallen wall

Published by Alex Makin on Tuesday 15th of January, 2008

The Maroondah Journal has reported on the collapse of a fence constructed by Southern Rocycling in a location that abuts the future Eastlink tollway.

Cr Alex Makin said the council had a number of concerns about the foundation of the fence.

This latest incident is part of a number of ongoing issues with Southern Rocycling, where the company has not regarded the amenity of the local community or respected building and planning requirements.

He said the council questioned Southern Rocycling on a variety of building matters and would like it to comply with relevant requirements.

Southern Rocycling, which has recently been acquired by CMA Corporation, needs to ensure that they start cooperating with Maroondah council and the community.

Final Heatherdale Communtiy Action Group meeting for 2007

Published by Alex Makin on Wednesday 12th of December, 2007

Tonight I attended the final Heatherdale Community Action Group meeting for 2007. Tonight’s meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on the amenity issues being experienced along Heatherdale Road and council’s response, such as two successful prosecutions against Southern Rocycling, to try and improve this situation.

While the primary focus of the Heatherdale Community Action Group is the amenity of Heatherdale, a locality which is divided between the Cities of Maroondah and Whitehorse, speakers are regularly invited to provide to discuss issues of interest to the membership.

Tonight’s meeting included a presentation from St. John Ambulance who discussed the role of the not-for-profit organisation and the steps involved in delivering first aid. The speaker presented the DR ABC action plan, which involves the following steps:

• Danger - checking for danger to yourself and others
• Respond - is the person responsive?
• Airway - clearing the airway
• Breathing - look for signs that the person is breathing
• Circulation - check breathing and pulse to determine if resuscitation is required

The discussion with St. John Ambulance, was one of the many presentations delivered over the course of the year at the meetings. Meetings for the Heatherdale Community Action Group will resume in February 2008.