Berrigan Shire Council Rolls Out Organics Recycling

Published on 26 March 2024

The NSW government has mandated the introduction of organics recycling in all local government areas by 1 July 2025.  The NSW government’s mandate is in direct response to the Australian federal government’s Net Zero by 2050 promise made at the COP26 Global Climate Summit.

Berrigan Shire Council has worked closely with the Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) to tender as a group for the introduction of organics recycling in our community.  The joint tender has provided significant grant funding to supplement fully the cost of the tendering process and the association with Halve Waste to educate the community on the requirements for this new initiative.  Participating in the joint tender process also allowed Council to leverage the buying power of our partner councils to ensure that we got pricing that is better than we would have got if we had tendered separately.

Mayor Julia Cornwell McKean said, “Councillors and staff have worked hard to find the best outcome for the community and to ensure the costs of moving to the new service are kept to a minimum.”

“There have been significant negotiations with the previous contractors to finalise their contract earlier and Council staff continue to work to ensure this is a cost neutral matter for the community,” said Mayor Julia.

Mayor Julia stated, “Moving to a new contract was never going to be easy.  The new contract is for 10 years however, and Council strongly believes this is the best option for the community with the lowest cost impacts we could manage.  We realise people will have to change their habits and that is hard, but Council is there to support the process as much as is possible.”