Council appoints new environmental committee member

Councillors voted unanimously to appoint the newest member of the Local Authorities Waste Management Advisory Committee.

Rick Hansen at the Meet the Candidates event at CQUni on March 12, 2020.

GLADSTONE Regional Council took another step in the fight against illegal dumpers by appointing a representative to a waste management advisory committee today.

Councillor Rick Hansen, whose portfolio includes environmental matters within GRC, was voted unanimously onto the Local Authorities Waste Management Advisory Committee.

Gladstone Regional Council was invited to become a member of LAWMAC in July 2019 and again by verbal invitation in recent months.

The membership area of the Committee covers Central, North and Far North Queensland.

LAWMAC’s most prolific objectives include to achieve sustainable use of resources through continuous improvement of waste management practices by regional co-operation and to facilitate positive environmental change.

Cr Rick Hansen said he believed LAWMAC had similarities to CQ Waste Management, which “was lost with the demise” of the Central Queensland Local Government Association in 2013.
“We were sort of kicking some goals in those days and I think we have been marking time a little bit since then, particularly with waste education,” Cr Hansen said.

Cr Churchill said that all local governments in Central Queensland could be proactive and become members of LAWMAC.

“Councillor Hansen has been at the forefront not only of waste management, but the innovative ideas that are coming forward in relation to what council has been doing on behalf of its ratepayers to determine new energy ideas and new innovative ways for waste management,” Mr Churchill said.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for November 19 and 20 in Townsville.