Recycling in Kempsey Shire Council is on a roll, thanks to an innovative mobile recycling trailer which has helped flatten illegal dumping across the shire.
Director Infrastructure Services Robert Scott says while household hazardous wastes such as paints, oils, fluorescent tubes and batteries were accepted at the Kempsey Waste Management Centre, the service was not well-promoted or utilised.
“We felt that people were reluctant to save these types of material for when they visit our waste management centre,” Scott says.
“There is also a good proportion of our community who don’t tend to visit our waste management facility. As a result, there was a lot of this type of waste ending up in the red bins and heading to landfill.
“Unfortunately there has always been illegal dumping hot-spots across the shire. We do have some large areas of land which are very hard to prevent access and illegal dumping.”
The solution the council decided on was a Mobile Community Recycling Centre, or Mobile CRC.
Costing $29,000 and funded by the NSW EPA Waste Less Recycle More initiative, the trailer makes it more convenient for residents to dispose of hazardous waste.
“The CRC trailer has a schedule of where it will be located at different times during the month,” Scott says.
“It is fully staffed with a worker who greets the customer and accepts the waste. The waste is then transferred back to the Waste Management Centre where it is scheduled for collection.
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“There are no fees for collection of the waste, however the waste must be one of the 11 items we collect. It also allows customer service interaction at the point of disposal which is a great advantage.
“The waste is now also being collected free of charge through contracts with the EPA. This has saved Council money on the disposal of these items whilst also ensuring the right waste gets to the right place.”
Scott says illegally-dumped materials have decreased since the launch of the CRC, which has collected more than 50 tonnes of materials in its first six months.
“By collecting e-waste (TVs etc) free of charge together with problem household waste, we have seen a decline in dumping of this material,” he says.
The Mobile CRC allows residents to recycle:
Polystyrene
Household batteries
Car batteries
Electronic waste
Gas bottles
Fire extinguishers
Paint
Smoke detectors
Fluorescent globes and tubes
Motor and other oils