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Whyalla is a city located in the northern part of South Australia on Eyre Peninsula with the OneSteel steelworks as its focal point.
The Corporation of the City of Whyalla has successfully strived to improve the sustainability of its own operations and that of its 22,000 residents, despite the inhibiting factor of being a regional council with a largely blue-collar community.
Over the past 20 years, the council has been a driving force in forging a solid future for its citizens in the face of uncertainty with the steelworks and the manufacturing sector. The council’s strategic plan 'Whyalla Community Plan' incorporating Vision 2022, sets out some ambitious sustainability targets including increasing water reuse, waste recycling and native revegetation as well as decreasing energy use and mains water consumption.
The council has exhibited leadership in the local government sector by managing environmental pollution and improving the environmental performance of the community, through the use of the full suite of powers available to them under the Environment Protection Act (1993).
The council has within the its operations, achieved:
- a reduction in water by 40% (in two years to August 2009)
- a reduction in electricity by 7.2% (in two years to August 2009)
- a reduction in gas by 1.1% (in two years to August 2009)
- conversion of council fleet vehicles to diesel
- construction of a 35-ML stormwater retention dam in the new industrial estate
- watering of all street trees with recycled stormwater.
The council has also influenced the community to reduce citywide waste to landfill by 50% in the last two years (as of August 2009).
Whyalla Council’s excellent work has been acknowledged by the EPA through the granting of a sustainability licence (4.1 MB PDF) on 4 August of 2011. This is only the fifth sustainability licence to be awarded and the first to a council. Their sustainability licence contains a series of voluntary actions to further advance the council’s sustainability plans including:
- increasing the use of recycled water from 4 ML in 2007 to 180 ML in 2012
- creating two stormwater storage dams (100 and 190 ML)
- undertaking energy efficiency programs and using renewable energy within council operations to reduce electrical energy consumption by 10% by 2014
- refining its waste management operations to increase the diversion of waste from the Mount Laura landfill from 6.7% (in 2007) to 65% in 2014 by increasing reuse of concrete, green wastes, metals , timber and soil as well as salvaged items for community use
- Based on a successful trial, implementing a scheme to supply kitchen organic waste bins to 4,000 homes
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Implement the five-year management plan for:
- Mount Laura Conservation park
- Mount Laura landfill environmental management plan
- wetlands.
Last modified: 17/07/2012 09:39 am
