By Casey Neill
A $10,000 trip to China’s waste centres is “nothing but a junket”, says Greater Dandenong Councillor Tim Dark.
But his colleagues voted in favour of the September tour at their Monday 24 July meeting.
Engineering services director Julie Reid, parks and waste service unit leader Phil Robertson and Councillors Heang Tak, Youhorn Chea and Mayor Jim Memeti will look at alternative waste facilities, including waste to energy operations.
They’ll prepare “a post travel report outlining the value of the tour and how knowledge gained may influence the future direction of alternate waste technologies in the city and the region”.
A report on the trip said waste management was a key expenditure item in the council’s budget and sustainably managing waste was a major challenge to the local government sector.
“The Ordish Road precinct in Dandenong South is a likely location for a regional facility,” the report said.
“It is important that council is armed with a first-hand understanding of the potential waste technologies.
“The knowledge gained will ensure that council will be in a better position to understand, consider and take the lead with other councils in the region in the joint procurement of the most appropriate and cost-effective waste technologies, which will benefit future generations.”
But Cr Dark said he ran for council on a no-frills motion and “this is nothing but a junket”.
He said more than 100 commercial exhibitors would be part of the Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo in Melbourne in August.
Many would be international, he said, and “they’re coming at their own cost to exhibit in Melbourne”.
Entry is free.
“I just cannot find an intrinsic link as to how we can support such a junket,” he said.
