What's happening with our Recycling?

Image c/o Macedon Ranges Shire Council

Hopefully you are now aware that we should be keeping glass out of our yellow kerbside recycling bins. People have been using the skips at the transfer stations to deposit their glass, which IS being recycled, and we’ve heard stories of neighbours helping each other to collect and deliver glass.  

Sadly, our kerbside recycling is still going into landfill. New contractors, APR (Australian Paper Recovery) will only accept our recycling once the level of glass contamination is sufficiently reduced. This is because their main business is selling paper and cardboard to be recycled into food packaging. As you can imagine, glass shards become impregnated in the paper and cardboard in co-mingled recycling, making it impossible for APR to sell the paper as a recyclable product.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council are providing more glass skips around the shire, and are also looking at rolling out a new glass-only kerbside bin in the New Year to coincide with the new FOGO collection scheme. For now, this is a “watch and wait” notice that there will be better systems in place soon.

 So what can we do in the meantime? Keep separating your glass, and take it to the transfer stations. You can also take your paper, cardboard and comingled tins, cans and plastics to the transfer station, as this is collected by VISY and is being recycled. Help your neighbours, tell your friends and family, let schools and businesses know. The only way we will get back on track is if we work together and keep separating our waste.