Now is time to speak up

By Mail reporter JESSE GRAHAM
THE deadline for public comments on the proposed closure of Healesville’s tip is looming and, while closing is not a certainty, it’s time for residents to decide where they stand.
Submissions can be made by the public up until Thursday 1 May – just over three weeks from today (Tuesday 8 April). After then, a decision will be made by the council on whether or not to end the service in Healesville in February 2015.
The proposed closure was justified from a number of directions by the council – low visitation, close proximity to Coldstream’s tip, saving the council $900,000 over the next seven years and the environmental impacts of transporting rubbish were all cited.
A number of these justifications need to be discussed and thought about, and it’s up to members of the public to decide whether the stated benefits of ending Healesville’s tip service outweigh the harm.
First, visitation at Healesville’s tip is low – a meagre 3824 compared to Coldstream’s 56,753 – but use of the service rose 23 per cent when compared to its 2012 visitation of 3084.
It is worth noting the meteoric rise in Coldstream’s attendance over the same period, from 23,068 to 56,753 – a rise of 146 per cent.
The council is indeed set to save $900,000 over seven years – a saving of $128,571.43 each year – by finishing the contract in 2015, but another motivation to close the service is that, when open, the Healesville tip doesn’t make the council a cent.
The Healesville tip is contracted to Knox Transfer Station Pty Ltd, while Wesburn and Coldstream’s tips are both leased.
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Environment and Engineering Mark Varmalis has confirmed that, as a result, the site does not generate any money for the council.
In fact, the council subsidises each visit to any tip in the shire by around $55 because of the hefty EPA Landfill Levy, according to a council officer’s report.
Closing the tip is important when looking at finances, as the $900,000 can be redirected to other council activities, but the question that has to be asked is are the savings worth closing a functioning service that almost 4000 people use? And at what cost to 3777 residents?
This is where the environmental issues come into play – any waste dropped off at Healesville must be transferred to Coldstream, meaning truck trips and greenhouse emissions.
But with around 21 kilometres separating Healesville and Coldstream’s tip, closing Healesville’s tip could see 3824 people drive a 42 kilometre round-trip to drop off waste, in order to save the council money and the environment truck trips.
There are numerous facets to the issue, and no objective right-or-wrong answer on the matter, but now is the crucial time for residents to decide where they stand on the proposed closure.
Whether you see the closure as the removal of a service which is running at a sub-par standard or the axing of a vital community service is for you to decide, and that opinion needs to be voiced to the council.
Once the submissions deadline is reached, that’s it; there’s no point kicking up a fuss in February if the council decides to close the tip if you didn’t make your voice heard when it mattered.