City of Wanneroo residents challenged to recycle better

RESIDENTS can win prizes for recycling the right way through a household waste education campaign run by the City of Wanneroo.

The ‘City of Wanneroo’s Great Recycling Challenge’ will encourage residents to improve their recycling habits to reduce contamination in rubbish and recycling bins and decrease what goes into landfill.

Mayor Tracey Roberts said results of a recent bin audit showed that some materials were being put in the wrong bin.

“If bins are contaminated, material collected often ends up in landfill, which could have been prevented,” she said.

“Through education programs like the challenge, our community can learn to be better recyclers, which helps the environment by reducing what goes to landfill, increasing what can be recycled and cutting overall waste costs to the City and in turn ratepayers.”

Wanneroo resident Joe Kennedy said it was essential for the community to support recycling.

“I have 11 grandkids and it’s extremely important for the future that we recycle as much as we can and also re-use,” he said.

“Remember to remove bottle tops and make sure that containers and tins are clean.

“Plastic bags shouldn’t go into the recycling.

“I’m improving as a recycler all the time, under instructions from my wife.”

As part of the challenge, 1800 households across the City’s 36 suburbs have been randomly chosen to take part and will receive a letter explaining the program.

“I hope that the households selected to take part in the challenge will embrace it and see it as a fantastic opportunity to improve recycling habits and protect the environment,” Mrs Roberts said.

“As a council we have a wealth of information about recycling and are keen to share that essential knowledge with residents who would like to learn how to become great recyclers.

“Similar programs have been run by other WA local governments, with the support of the WA Local Government Association (WALGA).

“WALGA has reported that bin audits can reduce contamination by up to 60 per cent and increase the amount of recycling by 25 per cent and that’s an outcome worth striving for.”

Members of the City’s waste team will do visual checks of selected kerbside bins and provide feedback on tags left on bin handles.

If a resident receives a ‘thank you’ tag on their recycling bin, they automatically go into a daily draw to win a $100 gift card.

All households who have a ‘thank you’ tag on their recycling bin on the third visit by the waste team, even if they didn’t previously, will be entered into the grand prize draw to win one of six $410 cash prizes.

For more information, visit www.wanneroo.wa.gov.au/recyclingchallenge.

Recyclable items Aluminium and steel cans (clean and empty) Glass bottles and jars (clean and empty) Plastic bottles and containers (clean and empty with lids removed) Cardboard (flatten) Paper (excluding shredded paper, paper towels and tissues)