AS THE global waste processing industry grapples with China’s ban on foreign waste imports, Mount Gambier City Council environmental sustainability officer Aaron Izzard has urged residents to reduce their household waste output.
“Mount Gambier residents send over 5600 tonnes of waste to Caroline Landfill each year and over 50pc of the waste directed to landfill could be recycled or turned into compost,” Mr Izzard said.
“It is quite sad to see the amount of plastic and food waste that ends up at our landfill when it could be recycled.”
While generally Mount Gambier residents are managing waste “reasonably well”, it is equally important for residents to follow council’s guidelines to ensure everything placed in the blue bin is recycled.
“As the majority of items received by Green Triangle Recyclers are sorted by hand, items that contaminate the stream end up being directed to landfill anyway,” Mr Izzard said.
“When people put recyclable plastics inside plastic bags before placing them in the blue bin those items are directed to landfill – it is simply too time consuming to check every plastic bag to determine if it is rubbish or recyclable materials.”
To avoid contaminating the recycling stream:
Recycling items must be clean and free of food waste.
Take lids off bottles and jars – they are too small to be recycled.
Do not wrap recyclables in plastic bags.
Put food and garden waste in the green organics bin.
Do not put packaging in the green organics bin.
