More than 40 delegates from the wider waste industry and government gathered from around Queensland for the Local Authority Waste Management Advisory Committee (LAWMAC) conference on Magnetic Island last week.
The attendees comprised representatives from local government (including waste managers and elected representatives), the Local Government Association of Queensland, the state’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP), waste industry contractors and consultants.
A highlight of the event was a site visit to the recently-opened Magnetic Island Wastewater Recycling Plant and the Waste Transfer Facility, which formed part of a technical tour.
During the conference sessions, key items of discussion for the delegates included Queensland waste infrastructure planning, landfill bans, container deposit schemes and regional council reports.
Julian Chan from DEHP and Dominic Schliebs of Arcadis ran a workshop on the Queensland Waste Infrastructure Planning Project, which led to a facilitated discussion on barriers and constraints, opportunities, and potential improvements to the plan.
Chris White and Gavin Tunstall presented on waste management during an emergency response with a case study on Cyclone Marcia, which hit Rockhampton Regional Council and Livingstone Shire Council areas in 2015.
Dr Grazia Garguilo, from the Queensland Government research testing and safety training centre, SIMTARS, presented a number of case studies of landfill monitoring it had undertaken, while Steve Curran from Campbell Page presented on the Palm Island Work for the Dole Recycling Program.
LAWMAC’s meetings for 2016 are scheduled for Mackay in February, Townsville in May, Burdekin in August and Mareeba in November. More details about the group are available on the LAWMAC website.