waste management facilities

Asset Management Plan –Waste Management

Facilities

Waste Management Facilities

Wagga Wagga City Council // Asset Management Plan // Waste Management Facilities //

This Supporting Section should be read in conjunction with Council’s Asset Management Plan, the Asset Management Policy (which sets out Council's philosophy of asset management) and Council’s Asset Management Strategy (which provides Council with a clear direction and goal for managing the community's $1.185 billion (as at June 2010) worth of assets).

The condition of Council’s assets has been audited as part of the asset inspection regime, rated against the asset condition reference sheet and captured in Council’s electronic mapping system. The condition of all Council’s assets is rated from excellent to very poor. The colours on the following map indicate the condition of the asset, as detailed in the below table.

1 Excellent Dark Green

2 Good Green

3 Average Yellow

4 Poor Orange

5 Very Poor Red

Size of the NetworkThe Gregadoo Waste Management Centre processes an average of between 75,000 and 80,000 tonnes of waste per year. The site has 2 weighbridges, 4 cells and the entire site area is 238 hectares.

The rural villages of Collingullie, Currawarna, Humula, Galore, Mangoplah, Tarcutta and Uranquinty have smaller waste management sites.

1 Current Asset Base

Waste Management Centre Sites

Site Area (hectares)

Number of Cells

Active Landfill (Trench)

Collingullie 1.5 1 No

Currawarna 1.1 2 Yes

Galore 0.5 1 Yes

Gregadoo 238 4 Yes

Humula 3.9 1 Yes

Tarcutta 7.6 1 No

Uranquinty 3.4 0 No



Map – ConditionThe following map indicates the condition of waste management facilities across the Wagga Wagga Local Government Area (LGA) with the conditions ranging from excellent to very poor.



The following provides details of the Gregadoo Waste Management Centre.



Challenges of the NetworkChallenges facing waste management facilities include:

Resource recovery is a major challenge for waste management.

In smaller rural communities there has traditionally been landfills. The current practice is to upgrade these facilities to transfer stations, it is often challenging to gain community support for this change to the infrastructure.

New cells are required as more waste enters landfill, these are expensive and not environmentally appropriate and approval from the State Government is difficult to achieve for this strategy.

Improving/increasing separation of waste prior to acceptance.

Greenhouse gas emissions, capture and safe disposal.

Increasing the participation rates for resource recovery.

The economic viability of the rural village waste management facilities.

Meeting the strict legislative requirements.

Education for resource recovery.

Remediation of waste management site at the end of their life.



2 Condition Assessment

Condition Ratings Reference SheetThe condition of waste management facilities is audited against a rating scale which ranges from excellent to very poor. This scale is used as the basis of all assessments of waste management facilities by Council’s Surveillance Team. The rating scale forms the Condition Rating Reference Sheet below.



Intervention LevelsTo guide Council’s response to customer requests a set of reactive triggers hasbeen developed for each asset category. These triggers are called intervention levels and include expected response times. The following tables detail the intervention levels and response times for maintenance of the waste management facilities.

Waste Management Facilities - Intervention Levels

Full bins Corrective action within 2 working days

Vandalism/breakage Repair within 2 working days

Rubbish blown Remove within 24 hours

Sign missing Corrective action within 2 weeks

Condition Inspection RegimeThe condition and risk of waste management facilities located across the Wagga Wagga LGA will be assessed simultaneously as part of the Condition Inspection Regime. This inspection will audit the condition of each waste management facility against the Condition Rating Reference Sheet and also assess the risk based on location and usage. Each waste management facility will be audited every year. The inspections will be in the form of a GPS audit routine.

Ad hoc inspections will be conducted in response to customer requests, on a needs basis and where the asset degrades due to un-foreseen or unusual circumstances, like a storm event. These inspections are done onsite by trained Surveillance Officers and the results are captured in Council’s electronic mapping system (ArcGIS).



Life cycle management details how Council plans to manage and operate the asset category at the agreed level of service while minimising life cycle coststhroughout the useful life of the asset.

For most local government assets there are four key phases to the life cycle, namely: acquisition, operation and maintenance, renewal, and disposal.

Costs occur in each phase of the asset life cycle. It is important to attribute these life cycle costs to each phase to allow for effective decision making about how the asset will be managed.

The life cycle costs of assets include:

initial capital investment

operation and maintenance

refurbishment and renewal

administration, overheads and taxes

depreciation

capital use rate charges or rate of return and

disposal of the asset at the end of its useful life

The initial capital or investment cost of a new asset is a significant cost and often dominates the decision as to whether to acquire the asset or expand the infrastructure network. However, it is important to include all the costs associated with each phase of the asset life cycle, including ongoing operation and maintenance, future renewal and disposal.

3 Life Cycle Management



Target Maintenance EventsThe landfill and transfer stations are commercial entities and operate on a cost recovery basis. The maintenance of the waste management facilities is not financed by Council’s General Purpose Reserve, but from the income of the stations, the Solid Waste Reserve. For this reason, maintenance events of the waste management facilities are not included in this Asset Management Plan. However, this information will be considered in future revisions of the Plan as Council moves towards strategic asset management.

However the target maintenance events for the following asset categories are used as a guide for each type of asset at the waste management facilities:

Buildings

Fences

Footpaths

Stormwater infrastructure and

Unsealed roads

RenewalA detailed work plan for the renewal of the waste management facilities is developed annually to support this Asset Management Plan. This renewal program is prioritised based on condition and risk.

DisposalCurrently, Council includes the cost to dispose of an asset in the unit rate of that asset type. As Council moves towards strategic asset management this cost will be captured separately. The Asset Management Plan will be updated to reflect this change as it occurs across the asset types.



The Asset Management Plan for 2011 has been developed based on data collation, research outcomes and the results of Council’s internal stakeholder engagement process.

The next stage of the process is to ask the community to identify which asset condition is satisfactory to them. This will begin with an extensive community consultation process. The consultation will be in the form of a community survey which will be conducted online, at community gatherings, through focus groups and stakeholder meetings. The survey will use new technology, be based on images and a simple selection process. The outcomes of the consultation will form the foundation for true community engagement to occur in relation to the management of infrastructure across the Wagga Wagga LGA, in particular the development of agreed levels of service, supported by Council and the community.

As Council gathers data from the community about the level of service for each asset category the outcomes will be integrated into the Asset Management Plan.

Until the outcomes of the community engagement are known Council will provide costings to achieve an average condition for each asset category and use this as the satisfactory level of service.

4 Level of Service



5 Financial Considerations

Current Liability There is no current liability associated with the waste management facilities in the Wagga Wagga LGA as all assets at these facilities have a condition rating of average or above.

Projected Annual Maintenance CostsThe waste management facilities are not financed by Council’s General Purpose Reserve, but from the income of the facility, the Solid Waste Reserve. For this reason, projected maintenance costs of waste management facilities are not included in this Asset Management Plan. This information will be developed in future revisions of this Plan.

However, the projected annual maintenance costs for the following asset categories are used as a guide for each type of asset at the waste management facilities:

Buildings

Fences

Footpaths


Unsealed roads

Required Increase to Annual Maintenance Budget per Additional Unit As the asset base increases it is important to ensure that the annual maintenance budget also increases. As the waste management facilities are not financed by Council’s General Purpose Reserve, the required increase to the annual maintenance budget for additional assets is not included in the Asset Management Plan. This information will be developed and included in future revisions of this Plan.

However, the required increase to the annual maintenance budget per additional unit for the following asset categories is used as a guide for each type of asset at waste management facilities:

Buildings

Fences

Footpaths


Unsealed roads



There are some generic assumptions made in the management of assets in Wagga Wagga City Council, these are found in the Asset Management Plan. In addition, the following assumptions have been made in relation to the landfills and transfer stations:

The area (m2) of the waste management facilities defined in this plan, are total land area figures. They are not related to the capacity/volume of the sites for waste receipt. This information is expected to be included in future revisions of this Asset Management Plan.

6 Assumptions

waste management facilities

Documents

asset management policy

councils asset management

smaller waste management

tonnes of waste

asset inspection regime

condition of councils

following map

resource recovery