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A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
The Barwon Regional Waste Management Group is proud to announce that the 2007-08 to 2009-10 Business Plan has been finalised and is now available on our website.

The Business Plan outlines our priority areas for the next three years as being increased recovery of household material and organics, and a reduction in municipal waste. Our community engagement program priorities are, Waste Wise (Local Government, Schools, Businesses, Tourism, Healthcare, Community, Events and Industry) the Education Centre, Public Place Recycling and Litter initiatives.

NEWS FROM THE EXECUTIVE
OFFICER
The Group participated in the recent Seafood Waste Forum organised by the EPA and held in Geelong with indusrty representatives. The forum identified resource recovery solutions for by products derived from the seafood industry. 

The forum was a great success identifying that all seafood waste can be diverted from landfill,  with endmarket opportunities including fishwaste to rendering facilities for petfood, and scallop shells to composting facilities. It also identified transportation efficiency opportunities such as multiloading of materials to endmakets.

Skilled Stadium Public Recycling Program
The Public Recycling Project, an outcome of a new partnership between Sustainability Victoria and the Alcoa Foundation, aims extend recycling from people’s homes and offices to major community sporting and recreation venues.  The project will identify, develop and document how venue managers/land owners, sporting organisations and waste/recycling contractors work together to deliver effective recycling systems.

The project recognises that the vast majority of major sporting and recreation venues are government owned but have generally not demonstrated best practice waste minimisation. 

Skilled Stadium in Geelong is the first AFL ground to take up the Public Recycling Project challenge and was selected due to its capacity to achieve maximum yield and potential replication at other major sporting grounds in the state. The project at Skilled Stadium was officially launched at the beginning of August by Member for Geelong Mr Ian Trezise.

Geelong Football Clubs mascot "Half Cat" with Brian Cook (CEO Geelong Football Club), Ian Trezise (Member for Geelong), Brendan Foran (Alcoa Eastern States Corporate Affairs Manager), and Bruce Harwood (City of Greater Geelong Mayor) at the project launch.

Roadside Litter Campaign
The artwork and materials for the regional roadside litter campaign have been finalised and are currently being distributed to fast food and take-away food outlets across the region.

Traders have been supplied with banners, posters, stickers and badges all promoting the message "Our World Our Home, Do The Right Thing". Litter hotspot trailers have also been produced for each of our member councils promoting the report litterers hotline and the litter prevention message.

The campaign message is very visible outside the Torquay McDonalds store.

Waste Wise Geelong Network
On Thursday 19th of July, Waste Wise Geelong Network, supported by COGG, invited members to a Waste Wise Workshop at City Hall. Participants who accepted the invite included Battery World, Body Torque, Elite Event Solutions, Faggs Mitre 10, Gordon TAFE, K-Rock, Powercor, Salesforce, Target Head Office, and VIC Roads.

In just 2 hours participants were given an over view of Waste Wise and how it could benefit their business and the community.  As a result one business has already achieved Waste Wise certification and a number of participants are now in the process of reviewing the waste generated by their business and are creating Waste Wise plans to improve and achieve certification. 

The relaxed atmosphere allowed participants to ask questions regarding their particular business needs and in sharing these answers all participants benefited. A quick break enabled some networking to take place and a number of environmentally friendly resources were on display. 

WWGN intends to offer further Waste Wise workshops to their members on a needs basis so if you are interested in becoming a member of WWGN or attending the next Workshop please contact Waste Wise Geelong Network Project Manager – Liz Raimondo

The 2007 Living Green Event is being held at the Gordon TAFE City Campus on Sunday the 9th of September from 10am-4pm.

The Event includes a sustainable house tour, living green displays, kids activities, Barwon Water shower head swap and much more, for more information visit the website at www.livinggreen.net.au or view the event poster.

Recycled Organic Mulch and Compost
The City of Greater Geelong is supporting the Healthy and Sustainable Gardens program offering residents discounted rates on mulch and compost for a limited time. From the 1st of Sept till the 14th of Dec 2007 residents can order mulch for $30m3 and compost for $40m3.

The products are made from residential green organic waste, and by using them on your garden you are helping the environment and closing the loop on recycling. For more information and a list of retail outlets visit the City Of Greater Geelong's Website.