National Recycling Week is back this week and residents in Eurobodalla can be proud that they remain some of the best recyclers in the country according to audits carried out by Waste Management Australia.
Eurobodalla Council helps residents to recycle a wide range of items, from the paper, plastic, tins, cans and glass in kerbside recycling, to organic garden waste in the green kerbside bin, to old fridges collected for free at the annual junk collection.
Last year Council’s recycling facility in Moruya processed 4,700 tonnes of material from yellow-lid bins. Only nine per cent of that material ended up in landfill due to contamination, such as nappies, or production loss, where part of the recycling process creates a small amount of waste.
The recyclable material is sorted then baled, and the commodities are shipped to various companies for reprocessing in Australia and overseas within weeks of being received. The exception is glass, which is crushed at the recycling facility and made into glass sand for use on local construction projects. Garden organics waste is shredded, tested, and given away to residents, businesses and used on Council works.
Electronic goods like televisions and computers are collected for processing, while mattresses, tyres, polystyrene, oils and empty chemical containers, steel and other metals, batteries and fluorescent tubes and globes, are all now diverted from landfill and collected for processing into new items by a range of companies and social enterprises contracted by Council.
Council continues with education programs that focus on waste minimisation, reuse and recycling. Home composting and worm farming workshops have been running in the lead up to Recycling Week again this year and remain popular with residents.
There’s a focus on local schools, where children participate in Council-run activities like “What goes in the bin?” and the annual environmental calendar art competition.
Kids at Moruya Primary School are setting a great example. Food waste from the students, staff and canteen makes its way to the kitchen garden where it is recycled into compost and eventually used on the growing vegetables. Recently they’ve been experimenting with creating plant pots out of recycled newspaper.
Residents can continue to play their part in keeping items out of landfill by ensuring they recycle right. The do’s and don’ts of recycling in the Eurobodalla are listed in the “Household Waste and Recycling Guide”, delivered annually to all households receiving Council’s kerbside collection. The information is also available on Council’s website along with five-minute video starring Mabel Cansort talking about how, why and what we can recycle.
Above: For National Recycling Week, Moruya Primary School students Tilly Shorter, Alice Wilden, Sam Harris and Alice Wassell show off the recycled plant pots they made for the school kitchen garden. Media Release
