Central Coast Council has been blown away that over 7,100 Central Coast households have opted into the Curby soft plastics program in the past weeks.Already the program has resulted in over 11,000 kilograms of soft plastics being diverted from landfill (the equivalent of 2 million plastic bags) and now that the Central Coast is nearing its 10,000th household joining the program, this number is expected to quadruple.Council Director Infrastructure Services, Boris Bolgoff said the Central Coast is leading the way to help shape the future of soft plastics recycling nationally.“Our community’s dedication to reducing waste and protecting our land and marine environments continually amazes and inspires us,” Mr Bolgoff said.“We understand that many people in our community are waiting on their Curby Pack to arrive in the post – Curby has guaranteed absolutely everyone registered will receive their pack so please be patient as the Curby Team methodically go through the list of households and in the meantime, please keep collecting your soft plastics ready for when your pack arrives.”Council Administrator Rik Hart said Council was delighted to be part of this Australia-first program.“We know that the Central Coast community is passionate about waste reduction but this response from our residents is simply outstanding,” Mr Hart said.“The values of our community are strongly tied to our local natural environment and we are delighted to continually look for opportunities like the Curby program, which enables our residents to live their values.”The program is run in collaboration with Australian recyclers iQ Renew and CurbCycle and builds upon the successful soft plastics recycling trial facilitated by Central Coast Council since November 2020.All households in the Central Coast Council area can now register to be part of a soft plastics recycling program, allowing them to recycle soft plastics from the convenience and safety of their own homes using the Curby Program and Council kerbside yellow bin.Currently, the program is only available to households with access to a smartphone who can access the Curby app via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
Council streamlines the Development Assessment process for faster turnaround timesCentral Coast Council processes more than 3,000 development applications each year with a value of more than $1 billion.Council Administrator, Rik Hart said that at the Council Meeting on 26 October 2020 Council resolved to investigate measures to assist in the fast tracking of DA assessments, and at the Meeting on 3 February 2021 resolved to draft a process to make it happen.“It is pleasing that the ‘Policy on the Assessment of Development Applications’ is now adopted following community feedback.
Central Coast Council has commenced proactive patrols in natural reserves and continues to monitor open space areas for unauthorised bike jump and track builds.Every report to Council is assessed by staff for its risk to the surrounding environment, threatened species, any heritage values as well as the risk to the greater public before determining the next steps.Council Director Environment and Planning, Scott Cox said Council had received an increased number of reports from the community about unauthorised mountain bike and BMX tracks and structures being built right across the coast.“Unauthorised bike tracks and jumps are constructed without any approval or assessment of impacts to environment, heritage or other reserve users,” Mr Cox said.“They have the potential to negatively impact trees, native vegetation and the habitat of our local native animals;
The current climate we live in is proving extremely challenging more than ever for many already struggling, particularly as our community head into double digits of weeks in lockdown.
Central Coast Council has endorsed the process for the preparation of the draft pricing proposal to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) for its water, sewerage and stormwater drainage prices from 1 July 2022.IPART sets the maximum prices for Council’s water, sewerage and stormwater drainage services.
Central Coast Council will hold an extraordinary meeting at 12pm Tuesday 7 September in order for Council to submit its pricing proposal to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) for Water, Sewerage and Stormwater drainage prices for the period of 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2026.Due to the COVID situation, the meeting will be held online remotely, and the meeting will be publicly webcast.There will be a Public Forum held as part of the Extraordinary Meeting.
In response to the escalating outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant in Greater Sydney and regional New South Wales, as well as the Public Health Orders impacting these areas, Central Coast Council has adapted a number of upcoming community events to ensure the health and safety of our community.ChromeFest 2021Due to the continued uncertainty around the current COVID-19 outbreak impacting our region, Council has made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of its annual ChromeFest event, which was scheduled to take over Memorial Park at The Entrance on 23 and 24 October 2021. While provisions were put in place to deliver this year’s ChromeFest in a COVID-safe way (including introducing ticketing to limit attendees), the continued uncertainty around restrictions has made it difficult for Council to plan to deliver this event safely.Fortunately, fans of this much-loved annual event will still be able get their ChromeFest fix, with ChromeFest Overdrive TV set to share a livestream of all the favourite bands on Saturday 23 October.
The Central Coast community continues to have their say on key local projects with nearly 4,000 people visiting Central Coast Council’s Your Voice Our Coast hub to help shape future Coastal Management Programs.Over three months, Council collected community feedback to understand how the Coast’s waterways are valued so this vital information can be used to help shape the future management of Tuggerah Lakes, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system including Brisbane Water, and our Open Coast and Coastal Lagoons.Council also collected community feedback for our northern and southern-most waterways including Lake Macquarie and will be sharing this with our neighbouring councils as we work together to ensure the values of these important areas are heard in those Plans as well.Feedback collected from over 1,100 survey responses, as well as focus group discussions found:94.5% of respondents stated that waterways are a significant reason that they live on the Coast.
The Central Coast has its first Community Recycling Centre, with householders now able to drop off their problem wastes such as paints, oils, gas bottles, fluoro lights, smoke detectors and batteries for free at the Buttonderry Waste Management Facility in Jilliby, near Wyong.The Community Recycling Centre was established by Central Coast Council with the support of an Environmental Trust grant of $160,000 and work with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).The Centre at Jilliby expands on the popular travelling Chemical Cleanout Events, which are well supported in the region.Central Coast Council Administrator, Rik Hart said the Jilliby Centre offered a permanent, free drop-off solution, complementary to existing services, that will make problem waste disposal easier for Central Coast residents.“Our community is passionate about closing the loop on waste and ensuring its safe and environmentally responsible disposal and this was evident when we consulted on our Waste Resource Management Strategy,” Mr Hart said.“We are proud that 87% of our community think it is very important to reduce the amount of waste that households generate and dispose, and we are also proud to be able to actively find opportunities that help our community do this.