Deal with Cleanaway in the can

Eleventh-hour talks have brokered a breakthrough for Capes councils, with recycling contractor Cleanaway settling a deal to continue the region’s green efforts.

The news came through yesterday morning that Cleanaway had reached a deal with Perth’s South Metropolitan Regional Council to process recycling after the Times revealed months of recycling from across WA had gone to landfill.

Details of the deal were not available before the Times went to press, but the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River confirmed recycling would start immediately.

Waste would be trucked to the SMRC’s material recovery centre via the Cleanaway Picton recycling transfer station.

A huge fire destroyed Cleanaway’s $20 million South Guildford plant in November, with two more fires last month at the Dardanup base which receives recycling from the City of Busselton and Augusta-Margaret River Shire.

Busselton waste and fleet serv-ices manager Mark Wong said the latest advice showed contractor Cleanaway’s recovery facility would not be rebuilt until January next year at the earliest.

Negotiations with Perth’s South Metropolitan Regional Council broke down last month, with much of the Capes’ recycling efforts dumped in landfill.

Talks fell apart over agreed pricing.

The fires came at the worst time for Augusta-Margaret River residents, with the Shire investing in a new three-bin system with ambitious waste-reduction targets.