FOCUS On Burnside - the news hub

Do you know the difference between a Sydney Blue Gum and a Spotted Gum? Do you know what trees on your property are protected by legislation?

The answers are more important than you think.

Regulated and significant trees, even on privately owned land, are protected in South Australia, and it is illegal to prune, kill, lop branches, top, ringbark, cut down or damage the root system of these trees without development approval.

However if a regulated tree is located within 10m of a dwelling or in-ground swimming pool, it can be damaged or removed without development approval (as per the Regulations). The exception to this instance is if the tree is a species of Eucalyptus or Willow Myrtle (Agonis flexuosa).

Before carrying out any work on protected trees, contact Council to find out more about your tree. Unapproved activities affecting regulated and significant trees could attract court penalties up to $120,000, or even a criminal conviction.

The Sydney Blue Gum vs Spotted Gum question - although both species are called 'gums', only one is a eucalypt.

Earlier this year, a regulated Sydney Blue Gum was cut down on private property in Beaumont without consent. The tree was growing within 10m of the house.

An arborist, who was engaged to assess the removal of the tree, incorrectly identified it as a Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculate) rather than a Sydney Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna).

However, the tree was listed on the Council's register of significant trees and thus protected by legislation. In this case, the arborist had failed to check the status of the tree.

The Environment, Resources and Development Court fined and recorded a conviction against the arborist who removed this tree.

The Court fined the defendant $8,000, discounted by 35 per cent given the early guilty plea, thereby reducing the fine to $5,200. The Court also ordered the defendant to pay the Council's court costs of $2,725.07 and the payment of a Victims of Crime levy.

His Honour Judge Durrant noted that this sentence should be considered a deterrent for anyone who is considering damaging a protected tree; and that it is important in cases such as these that customers who engage arborists should be able to rely upon their expertise to "get it right" when it comes to an understanding the governing legislation relating to protected trees.

Sydney Blue Gum vs Spotted Gum

At 27m in height and a crown diameter of 18m, this tree was cut down as it was within 10m of the house, and potentially as the tree was wrongly identified as a Spotted Gum. At first glance, the tree species appear similar; however, a closer look at the fruits and leaves reveals a different story.

Above: the Sydney Blue Gum growing on private property that was illegally cut down.Above: an example of a Spotted Gum.

Above: A photo illustrating the difference between Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata) debris (left-hand side) and Sydney Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna) debris (right-hand side).
The Spotted Gum fruits (gum nuts) are larger, more rounded, and have valves hidden within the fruit. The Sydney Blue Gum fruits are cone-shaped, and the valves are raised beyond the rim.

Davenport Olive Reserve is a small reserve in Beaumont containing approximately 20 mature olive trees, part of Sir Samuel Davenport's original olive plantations which at their peak held over 14,000 trees.

The trees within this reserve were planted in 1864 and as the plaque at the reserve states "are retained as a memorial to the founding of the Olive Oil industry in South Australia". Samuel Davenport and Luther Scammel of Faulding's Pharmaceutical Company were energetic promoters of the olive oil industry.

Davenport's plantations were the largest and covered a wide area of the eastern foothills of Burnside. Along with the wine industry, the olive oil industry was a major area of growth within Burnside during the 19th century.

The City of Burnside placed third in the Australasian Management Challenge announced today in Adelaide. Congratulations to the Burnside team - #notoriouscob

Congratulations to winners City of Wanneroo (WA), and second place Devonport City Council (TAS).

The national final of the 2022 Challenge was held in South Australia yesterday (Monday 29 August) featuring teams from WA, NT, QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS and New Zealand. Each of the teams had won their state competition to be eligible to compete in the National Challenge.

CEO Chris Cowley said “I am extremely proud of our team in achieving third place in this Australasian Challenge. They worked extremely hard to take out the State title and have now matched it with the best in Australia - and New Zealand! Their exceptional teamwork and professionalism reflect not only on them as individuals and as a team but on the whole of Burnside Council.”

"Thank you to our very worthy competitors: City of Wanneroo (WA), Darebin City Council (VIC), Devonport City Council (TAS), Brisbane City Council - Meanjin Team (QLD), Napier City Council - Te Kaunihera o Ahuriri (NZ), City of Palmerston (NT) and Ku-ring-gai Council (NSW)."

The Australasian Management Challenge has been at the forefront of professional development in local government in Australia and New Zealand for over 25 years. The Management Challenge is a simulation-based team building, learning and networking program using real local government themes – the types of issues that a senior management team in a council would most likely face.

The teams are challenged to respond to a series of tasks in a unique, fast paced, ‘pressure cooker’ environment. Some tasks require written responses (such as a council report or recommendation document), some take the form of role plays or presentations and the teams are also scored on observations of how well they display energy, synergy, effectiveness and creative thinking.

L - R: Co-captain L – R: Andrew Gurr, Phil Roetman, Stephen Smith, Darren Baynes, Matt Deckert, Jaclyn Caskey, mentor Barry Cant.

Opening night Wednesday 26 October. Save the date!

The show then runs for 3 days, in the Burnside Ballroom. Funds again go to support local charity.

https://glensidelionsartshow.com.au/

It is important to take responsibility for sorting recyclables at home. Why? Because it saves money and makes good environmental sense. It is a lot cheaper to send materials to be recycled than it is to send them to landfill, but we can save even more.

The contents of the yellow bins are sent for sorting at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Imagine a huge shed, filled with large machinery:

• A ‘trommel screen’ helps separate small pieces of glass.
• A ‘bounce conveyor’ helps separate paper from plastic containers.
• Magnets and ‘eddy current’ devices help separate ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
• Hand sorting and robots help separate plastics and other containers.

Following these processes, the MRF has collections of materials that are sold to manufacturers. For example, the paper is sold to manufacturers who make recycled paper products. Glass, metals and plastics are also sold. The revenue from these sales offsets the cost of the recycling processes – it saves us money.

To get the best possible price for materials, it’s important they are not contaminated, like having paper that is free of plastic. But the processes that help to separate materials are not perfect. For example, it’s very difficult to distinguish between paper and soft plastics. So, some soft plastic can make it through the process – it’s called contamination.

Materials that don’t belong in the yellow bin, like clothing and crockery, are also contamination. If these materials are put in a yellow bin, they need to be separated at the MRF and sent to landfill, which creates double handling and all costs money. Even worse, some contaminants can jam or damage the recycling devices, which creates downtime at the MRF and costs more money.

What’s the solution? The industry is improving the automated systems. But developing and implementing new technology can be costly, and the cost comes back to us. Another option would be more hand sorting at the MRF. But again, that cost would come back to us.

Why does the cost come back to us? Well, the council pays for the recycling services – costs which are covered by council rates. So, if you are paying council rates, or renting a house and paying rates indirectly, you are paying for the recycling process.

The responsible option is to make sure we all sort our recycling at home. If we reduce contamination, we all save money! It’s important to make sure that the only things that go in our yellow-lidded recycling bins are paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic containers. For more detail, visit www.whichbin.sa.gov.au or call WhichBin on 1300 137 118.

In Burnside, we have relatively low levels of contamination in our recycling bins. Most people are doing the right thing, which saves money at the MRF. There’s more good news, too. The materials are recycled, saving the demand for virgin materials, and in turn reducing carbon emissions. It’s really a win-win-win, that saves us dollars and makes great sense!

A defibrillator (AED) is a portable device to be used on a person that is in cardiac arrest before an ambulance arrives. An AED machine is available for community groups and organisations located within the City of Burnside to hire for one day or multi day events. Contact Council’s Community Connections team on 8366 4107 to find out about hiring an AED machine.

Heritage plaques reflect Council’s desire to commemorate the significance of a building for:

• its architecture or association with a significant historical figure or event
• its association with historical, economic or social themes that are important to the local area
• its representation of customs or ways of life that are characteristic of the local area or
• having played an important part in the lives of local residents.

As part of Round 2 of the Heritage Plaque Scheme, a further 20 properties have had heritage plaques installed. Go to our Plaque Map for details.

Luke Nordestgaard is a two-year-old spreading the word about responsible waste management.

Luke’s Mum Emily can't say for certain where Luke's fascination and passion for bins came from. “Since he was able to crawl and walk, he showed interest in our shiny silver kitchen bin, but he also seemed to recognise early on that bins come in many different shapes, sizes and colours,” Emily says. “He would get very excited to point them all out! We walked him around in his pram a lot on a trip to Sydney when he was 20 months old, and noticed he would point and exclaim, ‘Wawa!’ (his made-up word for bin) whenever he saw a bin, often before we had seen them.”

Family, friends and his childcare have supported his interest. He picks up rubbish at the playground (and sometimes his friends even join in!), and his childcare made a special book with photos of bins from around the world. He has various rubbish bin and rubbish truck related toys, he loves helping his Grandpa take out the bins. His 2nd birthday party had a bin theme, where people could dress in the colours of their local council bins. His Nana even made a green bin birthday cake and sewed a rubbish truck picture on his favourite jumper.

Luke knows what goes in each of the bins at home and really enjoys taking out the rubbish, including to the ‘squishy plastic bin’ at the shops. He even loves saying hello and goodbye to bins, and telling us which bins need to go on the road for collection each week!

Asked to name what goes in each colour bin Luke says: Yellow – cardboard rolls and paper. Green – food scraps and leaves. Red – rubbish and nappies.

It’s great to see someone so young continuing the great work of residents in the City of Burnside!

Keep an eye on your letterbox this week as the Spring edition of Focus Newsletter will be delivered by Australia Post.

This edition includes news, events, stories and updates on Council people, places and projects.

For the first time it is wrapped in fully compostable product so you can place the wrap in your green lidded bin.

You can also read it online here Focus. And there is an easy to read word version for those with visual impairment.

Another winning project has been installed as part of this year's Your Neighbourhood Budget (YNB), with 19 species of wildflowers, grasses and shrubs planted at Glenside. The idea was submitted by the Environs Club, which aims to attract wildlife and improve the immediate environment around the Glenside Botanica Apartments. The wildflowers, grasses and shrubs were provided from Council’s biodiversity nursery.