Circular Head Council

10/09/2026

MAYOR’S COMMUNITY SAFTEY REMINDER | Please watch your speed

A reminder from Mayor Gerard Blizzard to keep an eye on your speed as you travel around Circular Head.

Speed limits are there for a reason – they take into account the road, what’s around it and the people who use it.

A few areas where we’re asking drivers to take particular care:

🚗Stanley Highway – the 50 km/h zone extends from the Stanley township out to Trethewies Lookout. Please watch your speed through this section – including our heavy vehicle drivers.

🚗Nelson Street, Smithton – the speed limit between the Bass Highway roundabout and the Davis/Smith Streets intersection has recently changed from 60 km/h to 50 km/h. Nelson Street is no longer just a through road. It’s a busy, built-up area servicing a school, SWIRL, the Recreation Centre and basketball facilities, with plenty of pedestrians, turning vehicles and local traffic.

🚗Brittons Road – a reminder that the speed limit changes from 60 km/h to 50 km/h over the hill past the hospital as you head towards the school. Please keep an eye out for the change.

Even a small reduction in speed can make a big difference if something unexpected happens.

And while we’re talking speed limits…

Council is currently seeking community feedback on proposed speed limit changes at four locations across Circular Head:

• Trowutta Road
• South Road
• Mengha Road/South Road
• Cantara Road

Before having your say, we encourage you to take a look at why each road is being reviewed, what is proposed and how speed limit decisions are made.

https://www.circularhead.tas.gov.au/our-council/news/latest-news/have-your-say-on-proposed-speed-limit-changes

The survey is open until Friday 18 September.

Please slow down, watch the signs and help keep everyone on our roads safe.

10/09/2026

🚧 Stanley Highway Upgrade | Works commencing 21 September

Building Tasmania (formerly Department of State Growth) will soon begin upgrade works along a 2.8 km section of the Stanley Highway, between West Inlet Track and Dovecote Road.

Works are expected to commence on Monday, 21 September 2026 and take approximately nine months to complete.

During construction, a reduced speed limit will be in place, with single-lane closures during working hours between 7am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

🚗 Please allow for up to eight minutes of additional travel time and remember to follow reduced speed limits and the directions of traffic controllers and signage.

For more information about the project, visit:
🔗 www.transport.tas.gov.au/stanley-highway-upgrade

Questions about the project can be directed to:
📧 [email protected]

09/09/2026

🗳️ Election Signage Info

With the 2026 Local Government Elections coming up, you may start to notice election signs appearing around Circular Head.

There are a few rules around where and when these signs can be displayed.

🚫Election signs cannot be placed on Council or other public land, including parks, sports grounds, public buildings, fences, roads or footpaths.

📌Signs on private property require the property owner’s permission, and all election signs need to meet the relevant size, timing and authorisation requirements.

🚸Please also make sure signs don’t block footpaths or create a safety hazard.

For more information about election signage and the 2026 Local Government Elections, visit LGAT:
🔗 https://www.lgat.tas.gov.au/tasmanian-councils/council-elections

08/09/2026

♻️ FOLLOW YOUR RECYCLING | A Circular Head Waste Partnership Series

🔎 Inside the MRF – how does it all get sorted?

Last time, we followed your recycling from the kerb to the Materials Recovery Facility – or MRF – at Spreyton.

But when it arrives, everything is mixed together. Paper. Cardboard. Cans. Plastic bottles. Glass jars. So how on earth does it all get separated again? The answer is a pretty impressive combination of technology – and people.

The Spreyton MRF has capacity to sort around 20,000 tonnes of paper, glass, plastic and metals from more than 100,000 households.

Here's what happens when your recycling starts its journey along the sorting line (And APOLOGIES❗️we know a video or some kind of visual would have been much better here....we are still working on that):

➡️ First stop – people power. Everything is fed into a hopper to begin its journey along the sorting line. The loader operator removes anything obvious that could cause trouble (think steel bars, appliances or car batteries), before manual pickers remove things like soft plastics, household batteries and bagged rubbish. They might not catch everything, but they give it a red-hot crack – because these items can create safety risks and damage machinery further down the line.

📦 Large Cardboard comes out first. A series of steel discs separates the larger cardboard, while the smaller materials fall through.

🍾 Then glass. A glass breaker screen shatters the glass, allowing it to fall onto a separate conveyor and head to the glass store.

📄 Paper and smaller cardboard are next. Rotating rubber discs separate these lighter materials before optical sorting technology and a final human quality check remove anything that shouldn't be there.

🧲 Now for the metals. A powerful magnet pulls out steel cans, while aluminium is separated using something called an eddy current separator, which uses electromagnetic induction to repel the aluminium onto another conveyor.

👀 And then the plastics get very clever. Near-infrared sensors shine light onto each plastic item and use its unique light absorption signature to identify what type of plastic it is – PET, HDPE, PP and others. Jets of air then fire each one into the correct collection hopper.

🙋 And people step in again. Steel, aluminium and plastics that have now been separated go through human quality control before being baled ready for storage and transport.

Finally, whatever remains goes through another manual check to capture any recyclables that might have made it through. What's left – the contamination – goes to landfill.

So what arrived as one mixed load has now become separate streams of paper and cardboard, glass, steel, aluminium and different plastics, ready to continue their individual journeys.

Pretty clever, isn't it? And the technology keeps evolving. Recycling technology is getting smarter and more sophisticated, improving how materials can be identified, separated and recovered. Better sorting can mean cleaner material streams – and better opportunities for those materials to be used again.

Now that everything has been separated, we're ready to start following each material to see where it actually goes and what happens next.

➡️ Next: Paper & cardboard – where does it go, and what does it become?

Rethink Waste Tasmania Veolia

07/09/2026

Our crews will be out and about across Circular Head this week undertaking the following works:

🌳 PARKS & RESERVES
• Smithton Recreation Ground – annual restoration and general maintenance
• Mowing of Smithton parks
• Funeral duties
• Waste collection duties
• Port Latta Landfill site duties

🚧 ROADS & WASTE
• Grade, roll and re-sheet – Dunns, Febeys, Careys and Brittons Link Roads (Council owned sections only)
• Potholing – various unsealed roads
• Removal of the leaning tree – Rocky Cape Road
• Drainage works – Mella Road and Trowutta Road
• Installation and repair of rural signs
• Asphalt potholing – various sealed roads

👷 OTHER
• CPR refresher training

You might have noticed ‘Funeral duties’ in this week’s list. Council has a role when someone is laid to rest. When a burial takes place at a Council cemetery, our team liaises with funeral directors, prepares the grave and site before the burial, and ensures the site is left safe and tidy afterwards. We also install plaques and maintain and mow our cemetery grounds. This is an important job we do, and one that is undertaken with the utmost care and respect.

04/09/2026

03/09/2026

Our next Community Catch-Up is at Forest this Friday (tomorrow).

Mayor Gerard Blizzard and General Manager Paul Gardner invite you to join them for a relaxed chat at the Forest General Store.

🗓️ Friday 4 September
🕥 10:30am

It’s a great chance to share your thoughts, ask questions or simply say hello.

No bookings needed - just drop in.

03/09/2026

At its meeting on 27 August, Council:

▪️Approved two Planning Authority items - Purdys Road Quarry and Boys Road Quarry.

▪️Noted the Kerbside Bin Check Program and Contamination Strike System – an update on the regional bin check program and contamination management.

▪️Noted the Regional Project Workforce Accommodation Framework – consideration of a regional approach to planning for workforce accommodation associated with major projects.

▪️Noted Cradle Coast Waste Management Group Annual Plan and Budget – an update on the regional waste group’s priorities and activities for 2026/27.

▪️Approved the 2026/27 Carry Forward Projects

▪️Adopted the Policy Development and Review Framework

▪️Adopted the Procurement Framework incorporating Code for Tenders and Contracts

▪️Noted the Organisational Performance Report

▪️Noted the Minutes of other bodies and committees - Circular Head Community Road Safety Partnerships and Central Outdoor Area Management Committee

Read the Minutes from the meeting
https://www.circularhead.tas.gov.au/our-council/agendas

Or watch the meeting on our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/

02/09/2026

Congratulations to our local legend, Corey Armstrong on being named Learning Ambassador for Adult Learners' Week 👏👏👏

02/09/2026

Brand Tasmania is inviting Tasmanians to take part in a short survey about their experiences living in Tasmania.

🤔👉Why should we, here in Circular Head, take the time to fill it out?

The more we all understand about why people live in Tasmania and what our communities need, the better we can plan for and improve wellbeing for current and future generations.

Living in Circular Head can be quite different from living elsewhere in Tasmania – and that's exactly why local voices are important in this statewide research.

For us, this is an opportunity to make sure the experiences of people living in Circular Head are part of that bigger picture.

What keeps you here? What makes life harder? What do you value about living here? Are there services or opportunities you wish were easier to access? And what might make you – or your family – consider leaving?

The survey takes around 7 minutes, is completely anonymous and is open to anyone aged 18+ who currently lives in Tasmania or has lived here in the past five years.

The research is being led by independent demographer Dr Lisa Denny and the University of Tasmania's Tasmanian Policy Exchange, with findings to help inform future work supporting Tasmanian communities.

If you live in Circular Head, we'd encourage you to take a few minutes and make sure our part of Tasmania is represented.

Learn more about the research and take the survey:
tasmanian.com.au/population-survey