City of Launceston council take measures for sustainability

The plan sets out how the organisation will improve its environmental sustainability across its operations, service delivery and assets and draws on various previous sustainability reports and data sources.

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"The City of Launceston has taken a leadership role in sustainability over recent years and has rolled out several energy efficiency projects," mayor Danny Gibson said.

"Under the plan, by 2030, all Launceston households will be provided with FOGO kerbside bins, 80 per cent of the community's waste will be diverted from landfill, and the council's annual fleet fuel consumption will drop by 20 per cent per capita."

The Sustainability Action Plan was developed using data from a greenhouse gas desktop audit for the 2018-2019 financial year and aimed at making the council more environmentally sustainable.

The Sustainability Action Plan sets out six priority action categories:

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In 2022, the council have taken measures to see a more sustainable future for Northern Tasmania.

This includes the replacement of more than 4800 streetlights with LED variants, the trial of two electric Nissan Leaf vehicles in the council fleet, the installation of solar photovoltaic systems on 13 council-managed facilities - totalling more than 1785 panels or 466kW - and the introduction of the state's largest kerbside FOGO service for green waste.

As well as the installation of a rooftop 99kw solar array at the Launceston Leisure & Aquatic Centre and new high-efficiency heat pumps which have reduced both operating costs and the facility's environmental footprint.

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As a result of this project, the Launceston Leisure & Aquatic Centre was named a finalist in this year's Local Government Excellence Awards, held in Hobart in December.

The council was recognised at the Keep Australia Beautiful Awards held on King Island with several awards, including a Sustainable Communities award in the 'over 20,000 population' category.

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Launceston council also received a resource recovery and waste management award, a culture and heritage award, and a certificate of excellence for the City of Launceston's Waste and Environment officer Jess Nesbit, and a certificate of excellence for the management of the Launceston Waste and Transfer Station.

Councillors also supported a Clean Air Strategy motion at the last 2022 council meeting to find solutions for winter pollution.

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