Sorting Station on Trial for Special Waste Items

The Shire of Augusta Margaret River has announced the trial of a waste sorting station that allows residents to dispose of items which would largely otherwise end up in landfill.

The waste sorting station, which is located inside the foyer of the Shire’s Margaret River office, allows members of the community to dispose of small amounts of aerosols, CFL household light globes, pens, pencils, markers, coffee capsules, media storage such as cassette tapes and CDs, unusable clothing, soft packaging, beauty product tubes and tubs and oral care waste such as used toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, together with the existing collections for used batteries, household printer cartridges, mobile phones and plastic lids.

The items collected, most of which would otherwise end up in landfill, are then sent to specialist recycling facilities that can either dispose of the items correctly or recycle them.

Interim Project Administration and Education Officer, Penny Dowd, said that while the overall aim is to divert waste from landfill, the best way to do this is to reduce household waste in the first place.

“We really want the emphasis to be on waste reduction in the first instance”, she said.

“There are a huge number of ways to reduce waste, whether it be by buying package free foods, avoiding aerosols or buying beauty products like shampoo and soap in bars rather than plastic containers.”

“However, in the interests of keeping special waste items out of landfill, the waste sorting station allows people to responsibly dispose of some of the items that are particularly hard to dispose of otherwise, some of which can also be potentially hazardous.”

Community uptake of the waste sorting station will be monitored with a view to creating a more permanent solution. However, at this stage the Shire is calling for disposals of smaller items only as capacity is limited.

In addition to the waste sorting station, the Shire’s Augusta office and library will continue to accept batteries and mobile phones, and the Margaret River library will continue to accept batteries, mobile phones, printer cartridges, binders and stationery. Donations of usable items can also be made to the Davis Road Tip Shop.

To find out more about waste and recycling in the Shire of Augusta Margaret River visit amrshire.wa.gov.au/wasteservices.

Interim Project Administration and Education Officer Penny Dowd encourages community members to dispose of small amounts of special household waste items at the new waste sorting station. High resolution image available here.