Bin examiners target contamination

Media Release from Cr Oscar Yildiz JP, Moreland Mayor

Friday 31 March 2011, Moreland City Council

Moreland Council will be running an eight week green waste bin examination program to improve the quality of the green waste materials sent for processing into compost and mulch.

From March 21 a team of bin examiners will visually assess 7,000 green waste bins across the municipality over eight weeks.

“This is about education and teaching people how to do the right thing when recycling green waste.” Mayor Cr Oscar Yildiz said.

“Over the past few months we have had to use landfill to dispose of over 16 tonnes of green waste because of contamination.”

“Council offers residents a green waste service to reduce waste to landfill and re-use what was a waste product into a resource.”

Items commonly found contaminating the green waste collection include plastic bags, green waste in plastic bags and general household garbage.

“Plastic bags will be not opened at the processing site so green waste should always be placed loosely in the green waste bin.”

Foreign materials reduce the quality of the compost and mulch produced from the green waste collected which reduces the viability of the service.

“Green waste bins are provided by Council for biodegradable garden waste only which includes grass, leaves, small branches and weeds and should never be used for overspill from the garbage and recycling,” Mayor Yildiz added.

Staff will notify residents found to have contaminated bins by placing a sticker on the bin lid and a notice in their letterbox.

Warnings will be given to residents found to have a small amount of contamination in their bin and highly contaminated bins will be rejected for collection.

“When people put non-biodegradable waste in the green waste bin they are contaminating tonnes of green waste,” Mayor Yildiz said.

“Residents who have their bin rejected as part of the green waste bin inspection program will need to remove the contamination and then contact Council to arrange to have their bin collected at a later date.”

“This is not about fining people, this is about educating them and we feel that if people are aware of how to recycle they will end up helping the city and eventually the planet.” Mayor Yildiz added.