The ACT’s recycling and waste management services have marked National Recycling Week this week by inviting members of the community to visit their facilities to help raise awareness of good recycling behaviour.
Announcing the initiative, the Minister for City Services, Chris Steel said there was a diverse range of recycling and waste management services in Canberra.
“From the kerbside collection in the yellow bin at home to green waste recycling, drink containers and even mattress recycling, it is pleasing to see the way Canberrans are getting involved in recycling programs,” Mr Steel said.
He said that since the launch of the ACT Container Deposit Scheme on 30 June, more than 4.9 million containers had been returned, while more than 4,058 tonnes of organic green waste had been collected since the rollout of green bins began in April 2017.
“Since the introduction of the mattress recycling initiative in April 2016, Soft Landing has diverted more than 70,000 mattresses from landfill,” he said.
“With 74 per cent of the material able to be recycled, nearly 847 tonnes of steel, 116 tonnes of timber and tonnes of foam have been recovered for recycling.”
Mr Steel said there were a few simple things people could do to reduce the number of incorrect items in the recycling system.
He highlighted some common misconceptions and reminded residents that only household packaging and containers should be placed in the yellow recycling bins, both at home and in public places.
“Plastic bags are the worst contaminants,” he said.
“Many residents put their recycling in plastic bags before placing it into the recycling (but) because the plastic bag is a contaminant, in most cases the whole bundle is sent to landfill.”
The return-it depot in Fyshwick will be open for inspection tomorrow (Friday) between 10am and noon, while the Green Shed at Mitchell will be open between 10am and 2pm today and tomorrow and between 10am and 4pm on the weekend.
Information on how to join in National Recycling Week can be accessed at this PS News link.
