The City of Bunbury, Western Australia

C I TY OF BUNBURY , WESTERN AUSTRAL I A college. The city is also home to the Bunbury Port, which handles about 20 million tons of cargo (aluminum, timber, mineral sands, grain) annually. We also have a number of companies headquartered here with national and international presence. Two of those companies employ about a thousand people. Perth is easily accessible – only about a two-hour drive – and we have a small general aviation airport. “As for environmental sustainability, we have probably the highest rate of waste diversion from landfill in Australia – currently diverting about 67 percent of our total waste. We have a three-bin service to our residential area, as well as recycling bins in commercial areas. Food and garden organic materials are diverted to composting and recyclable goods are diverted to companies that sell them elsewhere. The remainder goes to our landfill site. We also have a strong community education program and e-waste collection points at various locations in the city.” Osborne: “The city is part of a regional waste group with the Shire of Harvey. Together, we run a waste facility and have waste education officers on board. Our city officers are very active in their campaigns to take the messages to schools and community groups, and there is also an education officer at the waste site, where people can visit and see what’s happening onsite. In our curbside program, FOGO (food organics, garden organics) are collected weekly but general collection bins are only collected once a fortnight, so we’re working to educate people on ways to handle those general materials (for example, nappies during the hot summer). “We’re also one of the top five local governments for diversion of e-waste from landfill in WA. It goes to a recycling centre where valuable metals are extracted from the e-waste. And our state government has introduced a container deposit scheme, so people can take beverage containers to our recycling facility and receive a cash Mayor, Gary Brennan CEO, Malcom Osborne