Recycling

The collection will not accept;

• Clothing - please take unwanted clean clothing to Vinnies or your nearest op shop;
• Batteries - they are accepted free at all waste disposal sites;
• Polystyrene (foam cups, meat trays) - un-recyclable in rural areas;
• Plastic bags - take back to Coles or Woolworth's;
• Any liquids or chemicals - dangerous to staff sorting recyclables;
• Rubber - not yet recyclable;
• Paint - contaminates collected recyclables;
• Used nappies - causes the whole contents to be rejected and taken to landfill and is extremely unpleasant for sorting staff!;
• Electronic equipment and old TVs - take to waste disposal sites free of charge;
• Mobile phones - take to Post Office, waste disposal sites or main Shire office free of charge;
• Shoes - take good shoes to Vinnies or place in your general rubbish bin;
• Any food scraps - compost, feed to your chooks, or someone else's or worm farm; and
• Green waste (lawn clippings and prunings) - compost or take to waste disposal sites.

Please do not put recyclables in plastic bags as sorting staff do not have time to individually open plastic bags, thus the whole bag goes in the rejection bin.

Food scraps in recycling bins result in an unpleasant working environment for sorting staff and can cause rejection of contaminated recyclables.

All collected recyclables are processed and sent to markets in Perth. This presently includes glass, paper cardboard and plastics. Paper, cardboard and aluminium cans are baled and most plastics are granulised (pelletised) and placed in bulk bags.

No collected recyclables will be taken to landfill unless contaminated or there is not an end market for that product.

Tips on how to recycle right

Take your plastic bags to your local supermarket for recycling. Keep them out of your home recycling - plastic bags can cause problems when placed in your kerb side recycling bin. For safety and efficiency reasons, staff at the recycling centre cannot open plastic bags; they are sent to landfill. Bags also interfere with the sorting machines. To avoid these problems simply put your recyclable items straight into the recycling bin.

Remove the lids from your plastic bottles, rinse (preferably with left over dishwashing water) and make sure they are empty before you place them in your recycling bin. Doing this prevents liquid spilling and ruining other recyclable products or damaging the equipment at the recycling centre. Place plastic bottle tops in your rubbish bin, since they are too small to be recycled.

If you have broken glass or ceramics like ovenproof dishes, drinking glasses or mugs, throw these in your rubbish bin. If they end up in your recycling bin, they will contaminate the recyclable glass bottles. Just 15g of ovenproof glass can contaminate one tonne of normal glass, making it useless for recycling.

Australians are great at recycling aluminium drink cans. However one in three cans is still not recycled. If you're out at a picnic or barbeque, remember to take your cans home with you to be recycled.

Reduce food waste by making a meal plan and shopping list, and buying to the list. Financially and environmentally it's better to buy more later if you need it, than to waste what you have too much of. On average 33% of the contents of kerbside rubbish bins in Australia is food scraps. Make other meals with your leftovers, and either feed scraps to chooks or recycle your food scraps with a compost heap, worm farm or bokashi bucket. Worm farms and compost bins are available from Council at cost or from local hardware stores.

Steel twist tops and jam jar lids can also be recycled, but they are too small to go straight in the recycling bin. The best way to recycle them is to collect them in an empty steel can and squeeze the top closed. Then the can with the tops inside can go into the recycling bin.

Council kerbside collections aren't the only way to recycle; there are many other recycling programs that collect other items. These include:

Please be aware that the Shire provides a bulk bin recycling service at the main landfill site in Manjimup and at the waste transfer stations at Walpole, Northcliffe and Pemberton. Some disposal charges will apply, but those charges are less than that charged for normal rubbish.

For more information, please contact the Waste Management Officer on 9771 7777.