Earlier this month the State Government announced a $7.5 million grant program to help Perth councils trial a three-bin system to improve kerbside recycling rates.
But Victoria Park chief executive Arthur Kyron said while he was pleased the State Government was acting to help promote recycling, the unknown costs and logistics of implementing a three-bin system in the Town would need to be assessed before the trial could be considered.
The City of South Perth said it supported the trial of the three-bin system and ‘keenly awaits the results to see if there is any relevance to South Perth’.
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READ NOW‘If the results are favourable, the City would investigate the logistics of implementing the three-bin system,’ a spokeswoman said.
Environment Minister Albert Jacob said WA councils used a range of waste collection systems, but only seven offered a three-bin system.
‘This partly explains why WA kerbside recycling rates are variable, and generally lower, than in the eastern states,’ Mr Jacob said.
‘A three-bin system is used widely in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. Kerbside recycling rates in those states are between 50-60 per cent, compared to about 15-30 per cent for many Perth councils using the two-bin system.’
Results from the two-year pilot program would provide data about whether the broader scale system was warranted in WA for more effective kerbside waste management.
Mr Kyron said Victoria Park used a two-bin system and its recycling rate was more than 60 per cent, well above the State average.
‘Implementing a green-waste bin would mean having extra trucks and staff on the roads, and the cost of an extra bin per household would be passed on to our ratepayers, who will also have the inconvenience of having to store the extra bin,’ Mr Kyron said.
‘With the State Government’s new commitment to recycling, we would like to see introduced a bottle/glass refund system like South Australia.’
‘For households in the metropolitan area, we’re tracking towards a 39 per cent diversion of waste from landfill but with a target of 50 per cent by 2015, there’s a long way to go and this program will help achieve that target,’ WA Local Government Association President Troy Pickard said.
‘Since 2001, the amount of household waste going to landfill has reduced by about 10 per cent; this is in spite of the population increasing by about 30 per cent.’