26/07/2021
Celebrating the strength of community engagement!! It has been a wonderful opportunity to work with the Sunshine Coast Council - after a process of deliberation and 7,500 survey responses, we were able to provide the Council with a strong community voice on their preferences for waste services into the future. Here's the story...
Engagement Plus was commissioned by the Sunshine Coast Council to undertake an engagement project to understand the community’s perception on the future of waste and resource recovery on the Sunshine Coast, including a third bin to capture food and garden waste (FOGO) in the region.
Engagement Plus designed a two-part engagement plan to ensure that the whole community had the opportunity to have their say and enable in depth discussions with the community. The engagement project included both a series of deliberative workshops and a community survey.
Community feedback from more than 7,500 residents revealed overwhelming support for the garden waste bin service which will be expanded to households across the Sunshine Coast from July 2022 to create a cleaner, greener environment.
This project highlights the success of a multi-focused engagement approach combining both workshop and surveys to enhance understanding and knowledge, providing the Sunshine Coast Council with well-defined results and direction for their decision-making process.
✍️WASTE RESULTS AT A GLANCE – You spoke LOUD and CLEAR – recycling and diverting organic waste from landfill; and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting our environment are important to you♻️
Here are the stats from 7500 respondents to the Our Future Waste Consultation back in February.
THE STATS
❓What do you do with your rubbish and garden waste?
- 83 percent use the general waste bin (dark red/dark green lid)
❓How committed is your household to recycling your waste?
- 86 per cent recycle everything and try not to put recyclables in the general waste bin
❓What is most important to you?
- 63 per cent said both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and keeping costs low were important
❓How important to you is it that Council provide a service to reduce organic waste in landfill and convert recovered organic material to useful by-products?
- 84 per cent said it was extremely important or very important
❓How supportive are you of Council implementing an opt-out garden waste bin to eligible households?
- 74 per cent strongly support or support it
❓Have you heard of FOGO before?
- 59 percent said no
❓How likely would you be to use a FOGO bin collection service if it was available?
- 78 percent said very likely or likely
❓How likely would you be to separate your food waste if a kitchen caddy and compostable bags were available from Council?
- 83 percent said very likely or likely
❓How supportive are you of Council implementing a FOGO waste service in the region?
- 82.5 per cent said strongly support or support
❓How important is the cost of a third bin garden or FOGO waste service to you?
- 54.5 per cent said extremely important or very important
More on the outcomes of the waste survey 👉 https://fal.cn/3gZB7
