A Recycling Right campaign has been launched in Casey City to educate residents from Narre Warren, Berwick and surrounds about cleaning up contaminated waste.
Most Australians take pride in knowing that through recycling, they are reducing waste. Much recyclable material was previously shipped to China, however, this is no longer an option and councils are now responsible for dealing with waste locally.
The Casey council recently undertook an audit and discovered that 26% of the waste that residents deemed as recyclable was in fact not recyclable. The main materials responsible for contamination are clothing, bagged rubbish, soft plastics and bagged recycling.
According to Michael Jansen, Casey’s sustainability and waste manager, incorrect items placed into recycle bins have the potential to contaminate the entire truck load, which results in everything going into landfill. The more waste there is, the greater the waste services costs for both the council and ratepayers.
The council hopes to improve recycling within the Casey area so as to have a positive effect on the environment and ultimately reduce waste. To achieve this, it needs the cooperation of residents in ensuring that recycling is not contaminated. Recyclable items include cardboard, glass and bottles, plastic food containers and metal.
Councils may make use of poster printing and flyer printing to educate residents about suitable materials to recycle.
The City of Casey has created a Rethink Your Waste PDF, which is available on their website.
