Welcome to the late Spring 2022 edition of EnviroNews
Welcome EnviroNews readers
In this latest edition of EnviroNews find out more about important changes to soft plastics recycling in Victoria, learn how you can improve the local environment through Frankston City Council's revised Nature Strip Planting Guidelines, have your say on Council's draft Climate Change Strategy, plus the latest updates on Frankston City's Biodiversity Blitz 2022, Electric Vehicle Charging Roadmap and much more!
Grassroots action to tackle climate change
Have your say on Council's draft Climate Change Strategy
On 18 November 2019 Frankston City Council declared a climate emergency calling for urgent action to reverse global warming. Council is now seeking feedback on its draft Climate Change Strategy which has been informed through community input to identify our community's concerns and to shape the ideas, actions and priorities.
Targeted workshops, community pop-up sessions and an online survey were used to seek views from the community between July and September 2022. The results of the online survey undertaken in July and August 2022, as well as the previous Climate Change Community Survey undertaken in 2020, were both used to shape the focus of the Strategy.
The draft Strategy identifies the risks, opportunities and priorities for Frankston City to avoid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts. The Strategy will replace Council’s existing Towards Zero Emissions Plan (2019-2023) and Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Plan (2011).
The draft Strategy is now available for feedback on Council’s Engage Frankston website. You can also come along to one of our face-to-face pop-up sessions in late November.
The closing date for feedback is Sunday 18 December 2022.
New nature strip planting guidelines
Council recently adopted revised Nature Strip Planting Guidelines, while removing the fee for permit applications
The Guidelines outline the kinds of modifications residents can make to nature strips within the Frankston municipality, while ensuring they remain safe and accessible.
The nature strip is the area of public land between the property boundary and the road kerb/shoulder (it doesn't include the footpath, kerb or driveway).
Nature strips planted with local species provide shelter and food for local wildlife and can act as important green corridors linking natural reserves to help wildlife move across the landscape.
The Guidelines explain the functions of nature strips in our environment, the maintenance requirements for residents and the options available for making positive changes. They provide clear guidance on what can and can't be done, whilst ensuring traffic, asset protection and safety guidelines are met.
Soft plastics recycling on hold
Victoria's soft plastics collection company REDcycle recently stopped accepting soft plastics for recycling. While residents could previously take their soft plastics collected at home to either Coles or Woolworths, this service has now been paused.
Due to the large amount of soft plastics being collected at locations across Victoria, and the issue of the receiving companies not being able to recycle the plastics into new products, there is a huge backlog of soft plastics sitting in storage.
Relevant parties have been working to find ways to resolve the situation but it may be some time, as one processor of the soft plastics, Close the Loop, are trying to get up and running again after a fire, but anticipate it will be mid-2023 before that happens.
For now, soft plastics should be placed in your household garbage bin, as storing them is not recommended as it will be some time before they will be able to be collected again.
In the meantime, it is also a good time to look at ways to minimise soft plastics coming into your home. For some simple tips on reducing waste visit: 5 easy steps to reduce waste - Frankston City Council
Introducing the red lid bins
Swapping the existing garbage bin lid with a new red lid
If you live in Frankston City you may have recently noticed that Council has been swapping over the household garbage bin lids with shiny new red ones, bringing us in line with new Victorian Government waste management standards.
Under the new system, you’ll no longer have two bins with green lids (which was confusing for us, and for you!). Your new red lid bin will be for rubbish, your green lid bin for food and garden waste, and your yellow lid bin for recycling.
Unlike some other councils, Frankston City only needs to make one change to be consistent with the new Victorian standards. It’s also a relatively low-cost exercise supported by the state government. The old dark green lids on the garbage bins will also be recycled into new bins.
The change will make it easier for all of us to communicate about our bins and what goes in them, which will help to improve recycling efforts, build confidence in the system and reduce waste to landfill.
The change is easy! Simply take your garbage bin out on your regular bin night, and leave it out until close of business on your collection day. We’ll swap the lid over for you. The change will happen over the next 6-8 weeks. We’ll be announcing more initiatives in early 2023 to further improve waste circularity.
Koala activity – please drive carefully!
Drive carefully – some of our most beloved wildlife, including koalas, share our roads
You may have noticed the ‘Koala Activity – Drive Carefully’ signs on roads across Langwarrin and Frankston South.
Council has teamed up with Mornington Peninsula Shire, and the community organisation Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation, to alert motorists where they may need to slow down and take extra care during busier times like school holidays.
The signs have been installed for the duration of the koala breeding season from September to March, when animals are more likely to be on the move and close to busy roads. The locations for the signs were determined through consultation with the wildlife rescue organisation, Animalia, who helped Council officers in identifying locations where koalas were at higher risk of road trauma.
It’s a good idea to keep the number of a local wildlife rescue group with you in the car (or on your mobile phone) in case you find an injured koala or other native animals.
You can view a list of wildlife rescue and management organisations here: Wildlife rescue and management - Frankston City Council
Growing our urban forest – first milestone achieved
20,000 trees planted and counting...
Frankston City’s 20-year Urban Forest Action Plan was adopted by Council in 2020. Our goal is to grow the City's tree canopy cover from 17 per cent to 20 per cent by 2040.
Importantly, the Plan aims to address the unequal distribution of tree canopy cover across the Frankston municipality, and support the planting of trees where they are needed most. Across the municipality there's an estimated 16,000 vacant street tree sites which provide a significant opportunity to increase our tree cover.
To work towards achieving our goal, Frankston City Councillors gave the green light to an ambitious initiative to plant 80,000 trees by 2024.
The 2021/22 planting program saw the first milestone being achieved, with 20,000 trees being planted in the municipality. Planting locations focused on existing gaps in streets and parks, particularly in areas that are vulnerable to heat due to lower canopy cover. A remarkable 3,840 street trees, 1,433 park trees, 1,400 trees on National Tree Day, 12,620 trees within our natural reserves, and 1,083 trees in the City's open space projects were planted!
The Frankston City community has also been helping to identify where new street trees should be planted, by requesting a new street tree online. Thank you to everyone involved.
The sun shines on Council's solar projects
A mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Council is on a mission to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions one solar panel at a time. Since 2000 Council has installed over 60 rooftop solar systems with a total capacity of 658 kilowatts (kW). In addition, four Council facilities now include solar battery storage with a combined storage capacity of 42.5kWh.
The latest Council facilities to receive a solar PV system in 2021/22 included sporting clubs, recreation pavilions and community centres, with over 40kW of rooftop solar.
There is a further 630kW of solar due to be installed by the end of 2022, including for Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre (PARC), as well as the Frankston Civic Centre (now that the roof has been upgraded).
Having solar on these facilities not only reduces energy costs, but reduces Council’s contribution to climate change, and enables the financial savings to be put back into other important community services.
Engage Frankston!
We want to hear from you
Did you know that Council has a dedicated website for engaging with the Frankston City community on important local issues and matters?
Many projects and plans will be of interest and relevance to EnviroNews readers. You can learn more about Council's proposed projects and plans, provide your feedback, share your ideas and priorities, plus sign up to receive updates.
Look out for Council's draft Climate Change Strategy (see article above), as well as the Structure Plan for the Frankston Metropolitan Activity Centre, both of which are currently open for community feedback.
Biodiversity Blitz 2022
Frankston City's hidden treasures
Council recently celebrated Biodiversity Month in September 2022, partnering with nine of the neighbouring councils (Bayside, Greater Dandenong, Casey, Monash, Kingston, Knox, Mornington Peninsula, Cardinia, and Yarra Ranges) to hold the Biodiversity Blitz 2022.
A competition ran between the councils to see who could record the most species. Frankston City Council achieved an incredible third place with 3,136 observations, behind Mornington Peninsula with 3,712, and Yarra Ranges with an insurmountable lead at 9,593! An impressive 111 residents from Frankston City contributed to the observations, with a total of 1,002 different species observed within the municipality.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the project.
Stay tuned for the City Nature Challenge April 2023 by keeping an eye out on the Frankston City Biodiversity Project - Frankston City Council webpage.
You can also visit the project page at Biodiversity Blitz 2022 - Frankston City Council iNaturalist Australia (ala.org.au) to see the incredible diversity of species that can be discovered in our local reserves and backyards. Below is one of the amazing finds.
Update on the Coastal and Marine Management Plan
Council is developing a new Coastal and Marine Management Plan to set the vision, objectives and actions for our coastal and marine areas.
Targeted community and key agency stakeholder consultation was conducted throughout August and September 2022 to gain a deeper understanding of the values, issues and opportunities for our coastline.
The information gathered will ensure that the Plan is informed by the best available scientific, environmental, cultural, social, and economic knowledge for improved environmental outcomes.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the consultation so far.
Electric vehicles driving the future
One of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions is the transport sector; accounting for 25 per cent of Victoria’s total carbon emissions. To tackle this growing source of emissions, Council recently joined forces with other member councils of the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCCA) to identify optimal locations for public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and better understand the role of local government in increasing the public uptake of EVs.
In simple terms, an EV is a vehicle powered at least partly by electricity. When chosen over an equivalent internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, EVs can offer a range of benefits, such as lower greenhouse gas emissions (particularly when charged through a renewable energy source), less pollution (with associated health benefits), reduced noise pollution, and lower running and maintenance costs.
There are a number of known barriers to the uptake of EVs, with the main ones typically being; purchase price and driving range, limited supply of EVs coming into the Australian market and range anxiety. While the purchase price and market are expected to change over time with more EV models entering the market, one of the ways to overcome range anxiety is to increase the visibility of public EV charging stations.
As part of the project optimal locations for public EV charging stations were identified across the south east region, including within the Frankston municipality. For more information on the locations and project findings visit: www.seccca.org.au.
To find your nearest public EV charging station visit: www.plugshare.com
For more information on the Victorian Government’s Zero Emissions Vehicle subsidy available to Victorian residents and businesses visit: www.solar.vic.gov.au
Circular Economy Forum
Helping businesses to adopt circular economy practices
Council's Economy, Investment and Activation team recently attended a one day forum organised by Monash University, to learn about ways that local councils can support businesses in adopting circular economy practices.
Circular economy practices aim to minimise waste and pollution in the design and production of new materials and/or products, extend the useful life of products and materials, and restore the local environment.
Various small to medium businesses who have started to implement circular economy strategies attended the event, and spoke about the current trend among Victorian businesses and what support they need to become and remain circular in their operations and supply chains.
The forum included panel discussions with four local councils to explore what each was doing to support a circular economy, as well as gaps and future plans. Roundtable discussions were also held giving participants the opportunity to talk about what needs to be done to overcome the gaps and challenges to develop a vibrant circular economy.
A panel consisting of experts from the Australian Furniture Council, Behaviour Works, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, ASPIRE ME and Integra Systems also spoke about 'bridging the gap' and what currently exists to support businesses.
The insights and information gained from the forum were extremely valuable and will assist Council in supporting local businesses to put circular economy solutions into practice.
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Frankston City Council acknowledges and pays respect to the Bunurong People, the Traditional Custodians of these lands and waters.
Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019, formally recognising that we need to work together to meet the lower target of the Paris Agreement, which is to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius. We are committed to working with our community to collectively reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and prepare and adapt to the impacts of climate change.