From Victoria Point to Point Lookout, most of us probably don’t spend much time thinking about what happens after the truck empties our bins each week.
But those small decisions we make at home have a surprisingly big impact, and the good news is that our community is already making a difference, but we need to keep it up!
Last year through the “Let’s get it sorted” recycling campaign, the Redland City Council found that more households were recycling, keeping valuable materials out of landfill and reducing incorrect items in yellow bins, and 89 per cent of Redlands Coast households achieved a four or five-star recycling rating.
Council believes these results are worth celebrating, showing that when people make a few simple changes at home, the collective impact is significant.
But there’s still a significant opportunity sitting right at our kerbsides. Waste audits at the landfill show that around 16 per cent of what currently goes into Redlands Coast red bins could be recycled.
That’s about 6300 tonnes of recyclable material being lost to landfill every year. To put that in perspective, it is equivalent to filling more than 1130 recycling trucks to their maximum capacity, or about 5.56 tonnes of waste in each truck.
If all those trucks were lined up bumper-to-bumper starting from Council’s South St depot in Cleveland, the line would stretch for more than 11 kilometres – solid traffic all the way down Finucane Rd and past the heart of Capalaba!
That’s the scale of the opportunity sitting in our red-lid bins.
Most of us don’t intentionally throw recyclables away. Life gets busy, we make quick decisions and move on with our day. The bins get collected, recyclables go to landfill and the cycle repeats.
Recycling right also means keeping the wrong things out. Always place recyclables loose in your yellow bin, never in bags.
Keep soft plastics, bagged recyclables, nappies, textiles, batteries and other hazardous items out of your recycling bin – consider setting up a separate recycling container in your kitchen, garage and laundry to make recycling easier.
If you’re unsure where an item belongs, check Council’s online A-Z recycling guide or the Recycle Mate app to find out what waste goes where.
It’s also the smarter financial choice. The red bin is the most expensive destination for household waste because everything collected in it is sent to landfill. As waste disposal costs continue to rise, recycling more and wasting less helps make the most of the services we all pay for.
Before you bin it, take a moment to check. One small choice at home, multiplied across tens of thousands of households, can make a positive difference.
To find out more search “Redland what waste goes where” or download the Recycle Mate app.
