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Recyclables Must Not Be Placed In Plastic Bags While most residents in Latrobe City have been doing an excellent job of putting the right thing in the right bin, contamination of recycling and green waste in some areas still remains an ongoing problem By Latrobe City Council - 14th November 2005 - Back to News Highlighting the issue for National Recycling Week, Latrobe City’s Waste Education Officer, Peter Collins, said that while contamination from items such as nappies, dog faeces and barbed wire has been reduced dramatically following a successful community information campaign, some problems are still being encountered, particularly with people putting recyclable items in plastic bags.
"These bags cannot be processed through the recycling and green waste facilities. By all means store your recyclables temporarily at home in these bags, but tip the contents out loosely into your recycling or green waste bin for collection. Hang on to the bag and reuse it, or if it’s beyond reuse, place it with your garbage, but never in the recycling or green waste bin," Mr Collins explained.
Manager of DASMA Environmental Solutions, Neville Bond who manages the Materials Recycling Facility in Tramway Rd Morwell, said that due to health and safety concerns, staff at the plant were not able to open packages of recyclables wrapped in plastic bags.
"If we cannot see what’s inside the plastic bags, the material must be treated as garbage and sent to landfill. This is a big waste of everyone’s recycling efforts and resources," Mr Bond said.
"We need residents to place all recycling items loosely in their recycling bin. Remember, only items listed in the information brochure can be recycled.
Apart from plastic bags, scrap metal is one of the main items of contamination still being found in recycling bins. "When pieces of scrap are placed amongst recyclables, these can potentially cause serious damage to the recycling equipment," Mr Bond said.
"Items such as car parts and old pots and pans should be taken directly to the transfer station where they can be deposited free of charge. Other items of contamination causing concern include children’s toys, batteries and computers. Car batteries can also be deposited free at transfer stations, Mr Bond added.
There are similar problems with contamination of green waste. Manager of PineGro Morwell, Keith Tomholt, said the main problem they are having is that some people are putting their grass, weeds and prunings into plastic bags before placing it in the green waste bin.
"Some of the main contaminants still being regularly found in green waste include plastic bags, plant pots, general household waste, take away packaging, timber products and even computers. Our machinery cannot distinguish plastic from green waste, so it is important that this material be emptied from any plastic bag before placing in the bin," Mr Tomholt said.
"Another problem we have at this time of the year is that some residents overfill their green waste bin, making it too heavy for the trucks to collect. Green waste needs to be placed loosely in the bin and should not exceed 60 kgs," Mr Tomholt added.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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