A ‘no glass’ sticker on a rubbish bin.
Camera IconA ‘no glass’ sticker on a rubbish bin. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

No glassing matter for Mindarie Regional Council

Lucy JarvisNorth Coast Times

MINDARIE Regional Council is rolling out its ‘no glass’ campaign by putting stickers on general rubbish bins and flyers in letterboxes.

The campaign aims to reduce glass contamination in compost produced from general household waste at the Neerabup resource recovery facility.

The council decided in May to target up to 170,000 households in the four member councils that sent waste to the Neerabup facility: the cities of Wanneroo, Joondalup and Vincent plus Town of Victoria Park.

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MRC sustainability and waste education manager Geoff Atkinson said the facility received and processed 100,000 tonnes of general household waste annually, creating about 25,000 tonnes of soil conditioner.

“The soil conditioner is of a high quality but due to an excessive amount of glass in the process, it does not comply with the Australian Standard making it difficult to market,” he said.

“Residents have never been specifically told not to put glass in the green top bin and have, in fact, even been told to put broken glass in it.

“This mixed messaging and lack of clear direction, as well as overflow glass ‘contamination’ from the yellow top bin, is resulting in the contamination we are experiencing in the green top bin.”

The flyers tell residents to put all glass bottles and jars, including broken ones, and ceramics into the recycling bins.

It says glass should not be put out for bulk verge collections, and all glass can be taken to the Tamala Park waste facility on Marmion Avenue, or the Balcatta recycling and transfer station on Balcatta Road.

People should take light bulbs to household hazardous waste collection sites, TVs and computer screens to e-waste recyclers, and broken windows or glass doors to the landfill transfer station.

For more information, visit www.mrc.wa.gov.au