City of Ballarat councillors supported the proposal to ‘go it alone’ on stage one of the $5 million All Waste Interchange at the Ballarat West Employment Zone, at an ordinary meeting on August 22. 

The city originally looked to secure matched funding through the federal Building Better Regions Fund for multiple stages of the plan, but were unsuccessful.

The interchange will be completed by September 2019. It will eventually become the collection point for all municipal rubbish and recycling, and could include a material recovery facility to take recyclables out of household rubbish. 

READ MORE: Ballarat the destination for rubbish as new waste interchange proposed

Councillor Grant Tillett said Ballarat had to “lead by example and do the work required” to start the interchange, and it was a “demonstration of good faith if nothing else, and is sorely needed”.

Councillor Ben Taylor voted against the motion in principle, saying that he couldn’t support the “froth and bubble” of state and federal governments to talk energy but not support a “really good project to reduce burden on ratepayers” like the interchange. 

$5 million for stage one of the All Waste Interchange was allocated in the 2018/2019 council budget. 

Mr Demeo told The Courier if a transfer station was constructed at BWEZ as part of the waste interchange, council would would potentially divest the land at the current Gillies Street after relocating the current facility.

Mayor Samantha McIntosh said future development on the Gillies Street land was an “enormous opportunity”, and the council needed to “use that space better than a rubbish tip”.

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