South Coast recycling education gets tagged

27 May 2019

Hard or soft plastics? What bin do my long life milk cartons go in? Why does my recycling need to be loose in the bin?

When it comes to recycling the rules can be a little confusing, but a simple tag is about to help clear up that confusion.

Starting this week the South Coast Waste Alliance – comprising of the City of Albany, Shire of Denmark and Shire of Plantagenet – is working with the WA Local Government Association and Cleanaway to roll out a bin tagging system to help residents use their kerbside bins correctly.

After a simple visual assessment of the contents of a household’s general waste and recycling bins, a happy face tag is attached to bins when the correct items are observed, or a sad face tag when there is room for improvement.

The program was successfully trialled in the Town of Kwinana, City of Joondalup and Town of Cambridge and City of Albany Waste Project Officer Julie Passmore thinks it will be just as successful here, providing residents in selected streets with direct feedback about their waste sorting habits.

“The South Coast community is enthusiastic about recycling and reducing waste, but we can all use a reminder about what to put in each bin,” she said.

“The bin tagging program gives residents direct feedback about what to put where to help us recycle more and waste less.”

Ms Passmore said using bins correctly can save water, energy and resources and is more cost effective for local governments.

“Simple things like keeping soft plastic wrapping and garden hoses out of recycling bins and always recycling aluminium cans ensures our system is efficient and helps save valuable resources from going to landfill,” she said.

The program is funded by the Waste Authority through the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Account.

For further information contact [email protected]