This week, Adelaide city councillors discussed a range of environmental topics, spanning new waste collection infrastructure in Rundle Mall, a potential funding boost for the Park Land’s disc golf course, and protesters trying to save two Frome Road trees from the axe.

Among the range of issues Adelaide city councillors discussed at the Committee Meeting at Adelaide Town Hall this week, a sizeable portion focussed on green-leaning topics.

These ranged from possible e-scooter rule changes to collecting data on the city’s rubbish, and so we’ve collated these discussions below to help you stay abreast of how the City of Adelaide is approaching environmental issues.

Get into the weeds of all the important leafy CBD issues discussed on Tuesday night below.

SA Disc Golf could cop $50,000 grant

CityMag first reported on the burgeoning sport disc golf in the middle of last year, when editor Johnny von Einem threw the ‘bee (the fris’?) around with SA Disc Golf players – including fervent thrower and Exchange Specialty Coffee founder Tom Roden – in the Adelaide Park Lands‘ nine-basket, par-28 course. 

The course was installed in May 2020, but due to surging popularity it needs a facelift. In a recently published report, the City of Adelaide administration recommended elected members approve a $48,783 grant so SA Disc Golf can install tee pads and improve safety for the course. 

“The application is for the construction of new tee pads as the current tee off sections of natural grass have been torn up from consistent use from SA Disc Golf competitors and heavy use by the public,” the administration says in the report. “The deterioration has created unsteady ground to throw from and has become a safety issue.”

Despite some councillors not knowing what disc golf is (associate director of city culture Christie Anthoney defined it for them as a “sort of frisbee-style” sport with at least 1000 local players), they will vote at the next Adelaide City Council meeting to support or reject the funding.

(If any councillors reading this would like a disc-golf primer, contact CityMag and we can deliver you a copy of last year’s Park Lands Edition.)

Going for a basket-in-one. This picture: Andre Castellucci

E-scooter (plus parking) shake-up

The City of Adelaide administration writes in their most recent agenda that based on information currently available, the e-scooter trial in the city and North Adelaide – made possible through State Government collaboration – has been “successful”. 

You can ride a Beam or Neuron e-scooter within the CBD by downloading the respective apps, but the devices are limited to certain speeds in certain precincts and are banned from Rundle Mall. 

At the council meeting, Greens affiliate and area councillor Keiran Snape asked the City of Adelaide’s acting associate director of infrastructure, Geoff Regester, whether the administration had investigated installing designated parking bays for the e-scooters, as they presented safety hazards.

This was following a unanimous council decision to explore the legal powers available to monitor the speed and “behaviours” of users.

Geoff Regester said there had been “discussions” with the operators and they would present information to the council “shortly”.

Issues not mentioned in the meeting but discussed in the report include the administration positing whether e-scooters should be banned in other locations or streets and the likelihood of the South Australian government creating new road rules for e-scooters.

“The National Transport Commission (NTC) has recently published an amendment to the Australian Road Rules to include personal mobility devices, including e-scooters,” the report says.

“Whilst these national rules are currently a model law with no legal effect, the South Government may choose to incorporate them into the road rules (with or without amendments).

“If this were to occur, Ministerial approval would no longer be required for the operation of e-scooters, and all devices, including shared mobility and privately owned devices, will be legal for use on public roads in every jurisdiction across the state. Under this circumstance, privately owned e-scooters could not be geo-fenced to prevent them from being ridden on specified city streets/precincts.”

Beam’s infantry at the ready. This picture: Johnny von Einem

Rundle Mall recycling waste

City of Adelaide associate director of Adelaide Park Lands, policy and sustainability, Sarah Gilmore, provided an update to elected members on the council’s resource recovery strategy.

The report, published in the most recent agenda, outlines gains made in the previous year and key priorities for 2022. 

Targets for the next 12 months include rolling out RFID (radio-frequency technology) tags on kerbside collection bins to “provide real-time, comprehensive data on waste collection”. The report says this is to manage contamination and the bins themselves, while also providing information that could potentially improve customer service.

“Does this mean the council is going to monitor where my bin is [or] if I hide it somewhere, or someone say, ‘We notice you’re putting your bin our three times a week?’” councillor Phil Martin asked. 

Sarah Gilmore said the council could take that focus, as it’s tasked with understanding how many “assets” (aka bins) are on the street, but it wasn’t the whole focus.

Another key initiative for 2022 was installing new “resource recovery infrastructure” in Rundle Mall. This would allow people to recycle appropriate food waste and compostable materials in the city’s premier shopping precinct. The project is slated for roll-out in May. The report did not indicate whether this initiative will incorporate bins or other collection devices. 

Not implementing waste diversion is absolute rubbish. This picture: Tyler Nix

Campaigners fight for Frome Road trees

On Sunday, roughly two dozen local residents, community members and environmentalists gathered at Frome Road to protest Renewal SA’s government proposal to fell two more trees for Lot Fourteen infrastructure developments.

Representatives from the local branch of the Greens party and grassroots environmental organisation Save Our Trees spoke publicly about the council previously chopping down of 11 century-old trees on North Terrace, in 2019, to make room for the innovation boulevard.

Speakers also urged members of the public to email Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor directly regarding their concerns for the two trees. 

For more Adelaide City Council news, click here.