Fraser Coast council to close four of its public dumps

Despite a close vote, the Fraser Coast council will move to shut down four rubbish tips by the end of July, saving ratepayers about $425,000 a year.

Tinana resident Kerry Childs is petitioning Fraser Coast Regional Council to dump its decision to close four regional tips across the region, including the one at her town.

The looming closure of four Fraser Coast rubbish tips has been met with backlash in the community, with a petition launched calling for councillors to dump their decision.

Councillors voted on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, to close the regional dumps at Burrum Heads, Tinana, Yengarie and Granville following a debate which lasted more than 30 minutes.

The decision was lost by one vote, and followed an attempt by Daniel Sanderson to delay the decision to allow for more community consultation.

James Hansen, Phil and Paul Truscott, and Mayor George Seymour backed his call but their push was shot down five-to-six votes.

Those same five councillors then voted against the closure, but again lost by the same margin.

The dumps will be shut by Monday, July 31.

Fraser Coast Regional Council has voted to shut its dumps at Burrum Heads, Yengarie, Granville and Tinana as of July 31, 2023.

David Lee tabled several documents relating to previous consultation on the region’s waste future.

Mr Lee said the closure of these dumps had been on the cards since 2019, as part of the council’s regional waste management strategy, and recommended twice by the independent Wide Bay Audit and Waste Committee.

The data backed the closures and it would save the council $425,000, he said.

From July 2022 to February 2023 the Yengari dump had “two visitors per hour, and 33 per week”.

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Councillor David Lee supported the motion, saying the closure of the tips would save the council $425,000 in operating costs and had been on the cards since 2019.

They said “comprehensive” consultation which lasted more than 12 months had been done when the council’s strategy was first devised.

Mr Sanderson opposed making the decision “suddenly”.

He did not think there would be community support for the closures “unless it was clearly communicated to our region”.

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Tinana resident Kerry Childs, who has launched a petition calling for the council to reverse its course, disagreed with the level of consultation.

“No-one was aware of it,” Mrs Childs said.

She had spoken with one woman who did recall being asked about the possible closure of the Tinana dump two years ago, but that was “the first she’d ever heard of it, and the last”.

Councillor Daniel Sanderson tried to delay the decision, and then voted against it, saying the community had not been adequately consulted about the decision to “suddenly” close the four dumps.

“They didn’t reach enough people with their so-called consultation.”

Mrs Childs said when Tinana’s tip shut she would be forced to drive to the other side of Maryborough.

The petition secured more than 200 signatures in one day.

Her petition, which is focused on the Tinana, Yengari and Granville tips, can be signed at the Granville Spa, Tinana IGA, The Butcher Shop, Tinana Friendly Grocer, Tinana Cafe, Friendlies Chemist, Tinana, Peries, and Friendlies Chemist at Adelaide St.