Council recycle promise
It’s business as usual for Geelong waste services
CITY Hall has ruled out shrinking recycling bins as a national impasse over recycling household waste drags on.
The City of Greater Geelong said the municipality’s recycling processor had made assurances that recycled waste was not being dumped in landfill, following similar moves by a regional Queensland council last week.
City services director Guy Wilson-Browne said several South-East Asian nations were on track to process the municipality’s recycled waste after the Chinese Government stopped a long-running deal with Australia this year.
“There are no plans to change the size of recycling bins in Greater Geelong,” he said.
“Our recycling processor has assured us that our recycling is not being transferred to landfill and council is regularly provided with evidence and data that confirms Geelong’s recyclable material is still being recycled.
“This includes recycling being sent to new markets such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, and it’s important to remember that about 50 per cent of our recyclables are still processed in Australia.”
China’s effective ban on accepting shipments of plastic for recycling has created headaches for local government nationwide, with Ipswich City Council the first to flag dumping recycled waste in landfill.
The Queensland council reversed the decision days later, but the move led to a flood of concern from environmentalists that other municipalities may follow suit.
“Residents should continue to recycle as normal by using their yellow-lid bin,” Mr Wilson-Browne said.
“We’re committed to keeping people informed of any changes to recycling services and if we became aware that our recycling was being taken to landfill, we would immediately inform the community.”
Geelong councillors voted this week to request the State Government use its $500 million sustainability fund to find a solution to likely added costs of recycling next financial year.
The Government has only forwarded stopgap cash to June 30 to cover the increased expense of processing recyclable material after the Chinese ban.