New recycling station now at Ocean Shores

Published on 11 November 2021

Council has installed a new Community Recycling Station in the Ocean Shores Shopping Centre (near Coles) for household batteries, mobile phones and fluoro light bulbs – coinciding with National Recycling Week.

“People might not be aware that we now have seven Community Recycling Stations around the Shire to make recycling problem waste items easier than ever, including at the Bangalow Bowls Club, Woolworths Mullumbimby, Council Offices Mullumbimby, Woolworths Byron Bay, Bunnings Byron Bay (which also accepts ink cartridges and x-rays) and at Council’s Resource Recovery Centre in Myocum,” Council’s Resource Recovery Education Officer Sarah Child said.

“Get your problem waste items together and bring them to one of these recycling stations – or if you have larger amounts of these items, please take them straight to the Community Recycling Centre at the Resource Recovery Centre in Myocum which is set up to deal with larger quantities and other problem household waste, including paint, oils, gas bottles and electronics.

“Recycling these problem items reduces the need to extract more resources from the planet. It also prevents many toxic materials entering the natural environment.

“Did you know that a mobile phone can have up to 95 percent of its materials recovered and used again?  This includes vastly mined metals like gold, copper, silver and palladium,” Ms Child said.

In the last 5 years, 158 tonnes of all household problem waste including mobile phones, paints, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, car batteries, motor oil and smoke detectors have been dropped off at the Byron Community Recycling Centre (CRC) for recycling or safe disposal, with an estimated saving to Council and the community of over $323,900.

To find out more about what can be dropped off and where go to Council’s website A to Z Waste and recycling list - Byron Shire Council (nsw.gov.au) or call the Resource Recovery Hotline on 1300 652 625.