COUNCIL IN FOCUS
Penrith plans prudently PENRITH CITY COUNCIL’S JOSHUA ROMEO TELLS WASTE MANAGEMENT REVIEW ABOUT COUNCIL’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN PLANNING FOR HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPMENT. Q. How does sustainability guide the council’s waste programs? A. Penrith City Council is committed to sustainability through policy and practice. Sustainability is about integrating environmental, social and economic sustainability considerations into our policy, planning, decision making and operational processes and balancing short-term priorities with longer termneeds. The Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy (WARR) takes a broad understanding of the concept and outlines our plan for action into the future. The strategy identifies key activities that will be taken by council to implement within the liveability of the city, including leadership, business
Penrith City Council is now entering into its 10th year under a FOGO service.
36 / WMR / June 2019
innovation, resource efficiency andsupport improved practice. Q. What are the key elements to a successful relationship between waste managers and developers? A. Consistency of service across Penrith local government area promotes equity and increases critical mass for sustainability. Penrith believes that communication, timing, consistency and flexibility are important elements to building rapport, and as such a successful relationship between waste managers, developers and other interested parties. One of our recent examples is a Waste Planning Officer within the waste management team which has allowed for development responsive
to planning, urban design and waste collection objectives. This is observed through higher density dwellings required to accommodate onsite waste collection. It allows the removal of kerbside bin presentation, facilitating activated street frontages and increased amenity outcomes within urban densification. Q. Which bin system do you use and why? A. Penrith is now entering its 10th year under the three-bin food organics, garden organics (FOGO) system, which continues council’s commitment to sustainability. Council is committed to actively supporting the community to reduce waste sent to landfill. Penrith believes the three-bin FOGO system is one of the best ways council and the community can achieve these goals. As a further demonstration of this, council broadened its most recent waste and resource recovery tender process to include all council managed waste allowing for consistent management, processing and disposal across all managed waste streams. Council has recently undertaken independent audits of bins and community consultation as part of the review of the WARR Strategy. This research supported expansion of the three-bin FOGO service into rural
