FOUR BINS TO FILL CITY CONSIDERS ANOTHER WHEELIE BIN JUST FOR PAPER, CARDBOARD
AUSSIE FIRST
RESIDENTS could soon be getting a fourth bin for paper and cardboard as the City of Greater Geelong looks to lead the nation on recycling.
In an Australian first, residents would receive a fourth bin for paper and cardboard in addition to the current red, yellow and green bins.
The council says about 46 per cent of recycled material collected in the yellow recycling bin is paper and cardboard.
RESIDENTS could soon be getting a fourth bin for paper and cardboard as the City of Greater Geelong looks to lead the nation on recycling.
In an Australian first, residents would receive a fourth bin for paper and cardboard in addition to the current red, yellow and green bins.
Another option under consideration by the council could see a dozen designated collection points set up around the municipality for residents to drop off paper and cardboard.
The council says about 46 per cent of recycled material collected in the yellow recycling bin is paper and cardboard.
Contamination from food and waste has risen, leaving significant amounts of paper and cardboard unusable.
China has now cut off imports of all but the cleanest and highest-grade materials — imposing a 99.5 per cent purity standard that most exporters found all-but impossible to meet.
By separating paper and cardboard from possible contamination, the City of Greater Geelong believes it would have a strong market in China to export this material.
Mayor Bruce Harwood said he has started to explore the fourth bin idea with council’s waste management staff, who are receptive to the idea.
“We’re having a discussion on how we’re going to help the recycling scenario by getting paper and cardboard out of our current waste streams where we can protect it from contamination,” he said.
“One thought was to have a fourth bin or some strategic locations within our region where people can take their paper and cardboard to.
“It currently goes in the yellow top bin but once people throw in a few jars and other contaminated items it spoils the paper.
“I just think Geelong could be a leader in this space.”
Cr Harwood said both ideas had merit but he personally felt a fourth bin would lead to a higher take up of recycled paper and cardboard.
The 120L bin would most likely be collected once a month, Cr Harwood said.
“When you rely on the community to take it to sites, you’re clearly not going to collect it all,” he said.
“I think now is a good time to go to an educated community and say ‘here’s our problem, you’re aware of it’, and here’s an opportunity to fix it.” While ratepayers would be slugged for the initial set up costs, Cr Harwood said it could lead to cheaper waste charges in the future.
“Whatever we do there will be a cost, but the worst thing we should do is put it in the ground,” he said.
It comes after SKM in South Geelong reached capacity last month, leaving council to spend $174,000 to send about 1075 tonnes of recycling to landfill.