TWO hundred bins have been emptied and sorted, as part of an audit requested by Light Regional Council.
The audit was carried out by environmental sustainability educator KESAB and aimed to gain insight into the contents of the different (recycling and general waste) bins, to understand the recycling habits of residents and assess the effectiveness of education programs.
Over four days, 100 red bins and 100 yellow lid bins were collected from across all of council’s townships, with a total of 855kg of waste and 896kg of recyclable waste collectively sorted, photographed and identified for the sake of data collection.
No individual bins were audited.
While a large proportion of waste was indistinguishable, ‘red’ bins contained an average of 8.6kg of waste, including timber and building materials (18 per cent), food packaging (12 per cent), bagged animal waste (12 per cent), scrap textiles (12 per cent) and nappies (9 per cent).
Of the recyclable material incorrectly placed in the red bin, 34 per cent was plastic and 29 per cent was paper or cardboard.
The ‘yellow’ bins contained an average of 9kg of recyclable material per bin, with the biggest contaminants being organic material (26 per cent), and textiles (14 per cent).
In a report to council’s infrastructure committee, council’s waste operation co-ordinator Adam Broadbent said while some of the statistics were encouraging, KESAB’S final report indicated that community education would assist households to improve waste disposal.
It is hoped education programs, such as having information stands at supermarkets or articles in the media, can be implemented in the region in the coming months.
Yes for red
- Soft plastics (eg. plastic wrap, cling film, newspaper sleeves, plastic bags, bin liners).
- Nappies.
- Kitty litter (wrapped).
- Clothing and rags.
- Broken glassware and crockery (wrapped).
- Polystyrene and foam packaging.
- Foam meat and food trays.
Yes for yellow
- Clean paper and cardboard (newspapers, magazines, junk mail, envelopes, egg cartons, cardboard boxes - flattened).
- Juice and milk cartons.
- Glass bottles and jars.
- Aluminium/steel cans and lids.
- Aerosol cans (empty).
- All rigid plastic containers (drink bottles, shampoo and detergent bottles, ice cream and yoghurt containers, plastic plant pots)
No for yellow
- No plastic bags, bin liners or any other soft plastic items.
- No light globes, mirrors or window glass.
- No electrical appliances or batteries.
- No ropes, hoses or wooden items.
