Don’t ditch your recycling habits – that’s the message from the council in light of the national recycling crisis.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has reassured the community that no recycling is being sent to landfill.
China’s restrictions on recyclable waste have triggered all levels of government to seek solutions.
Recent reports from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) show about 89 per cent of our community regularly recycles through their yellow bin.
The council asks the community to continue to use yellow bins to recycle and not be influenced by the other councils’ decisions.
Port Macquarie resident Susan Witherspoon says she will continue to recycle as she also teaches the recycling message to her seven grandchildren.
“Recycling has always been high on my priorities,” she said.
Council group manager Maria Doherty said the council was working closely with its waste contractors and other levels of government on ways to adapt to the recent changes.
Australia is one of more than 100 countries impacted by China’s new restrictions, affecting around 1.3 million tonnes of our recyclable waste.
This accounts for four per cent of Australia’s recyclable waste but 35 per cent of recyclable plastics and 30 per cent of recyclable paper and cardboard.
Council is trying to identify new uses for our area’s recyclable materials and promote industry innovation to boost local recycling markets.
It has committed to reuse processed glass in future engineering works after a successful trial using crushed glass in a drainage project at Kendall.
“We are keen to investigate and encourage both public and private sector innovation in recycling, and although this is a nationwide issue, will be working with local stakeholders and the community to develop local solutions,” Ms Doherty said.
Commonwealth, state and territory environment ministers have agreed to cut Australia’s supply of waste, increase recycling capability and increase the demand for recyclable products.
The state government has announced up to $47 million to support local government and industry respond to China’s policy.
On a local front, Ms Doherty said it was more important than ever to continue to recycle and do the right thing by our environment.
“I urge our community to be even more conscientious about recycling, rinsing items for the yellow bin and making sure recycling waste is not contaminated with other non-recyclable materials,” she said.
Our community recycles about 13,500 tonnes of waste from yellow bins each year.
A report to the May council meeting will address the likely impact of recent changes to global markets for recycled waste.
The report will include the impact on current waste management processes, the impact on current and future council budgets and the impact on the council’s Waste Strategy.
Cr Rob Turner said he wanted to make sure that the council was managing the transition from the old markets to whatever it looked like in the future.
