EVERY weekday while most City of Melville residents sleep, waste removal trucks roll out of the gates at the Canning Vale-based Regional Resource Recovery Centre (RRRC) on their way to collect thousands of tonnes of rubbish from our verges.
Owned and operated by the South Metropolitan Regional Council (SMRC) – with member councils including the Cities of Cockburn, Fremantle, Melville, Kwinana and Town of East Fremantle – the $100 million RRRC was established in 2005 and uses advanced technology and infrastructure to divert waste from landfill and recover recyclables for reuse.
The facility processes 24,000 tonnes of recyclable materials from yellow-topped bins per annum, recovering 85 per cent of that material for reuse.
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READ NOWAdditionally, 80,000 tonnes of general waste collected from green-topped bins is processed into compost each year, preventing 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere – the equivalent of taking 7000 cars off the road.
The RRRC is capable of recycling aluminum and steel cans, plastic containers, bottles and other mixed plastics, glass (including broken glass) as well as paper and cardboard.
SMRC chairperson Cameron Schuster said in recent years the generation of recyclable materials from households had decreased as a result of a downturn in the economy, as well as community awareness and education about waste generation.
“At the same time, efficiencies in the Materials Recovery Facility have led to an increase in the percentage of materials being recovered for recycling,” he said.
“The MRF is currently not running at full capacity and the SMRC has ability to process recyclables for other councils and commercial generators.”
Cr Schuster said certain non-recyclable were often incorrectly placed in yellow-topped bins which had major negative consequences for the recovery rate of the MRF.
“Some of the most problematic items include nappies, straps and ropes, batteries, chemicals and other hazardous items,” he said.
“When these items end up at the MRF they can contaminate recyclables, damage machinery and pose a serious risk to employees.”
For more information on what can and can not go into their household bins, visit recycleright.wa.gov.au
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