The opening of a new system for extracting reusable material from the waste stream has brought a new direction in landfill education for Hume. Since December, residents driving into the City’s Bolinda Road landfill at Campbellfield have been directed around a circular road where they can deposit an extensive range of reusable or recyclable items in marked bays.
At the end of the road, loads can be inspected to ensure only non recoverable material is deposited in landfill. If any recyclable items remain drivers are easily redirected around the circle. Flexibility is built into the system with bays able to be altered to accommodate changing volumes of different recyclable materials.
At the centre of the recycling circuit lies the City’s Landfill Education Centre, including parking for cars and buses. Here visitors, primarily school students, are able to hear about the principles behind Hume’s landfill operations while the operation itself goes on around them.
“We originated this concept in 1996 when we had to acknowledge that we had problems communicating waste education principles to the community,” said Infrastructure Planning Engineer Stuart Hercules.
“To change attitudes and perceptions, we felt an education centre available to school groups and others would be the best way to get the message through. “It is a hands on education process for school children, community groups and conference tours.”
The education centre has been internally fitted with waste education murals, a video unit and overhead projector. Special programs for non English speaking residents are also available.
Visitors are shown the on site methane gas extraction and power generation facility, landfill operations, transfer operations and best practice safety measures at the Centre, complete with surround sound, smell and vision. “It is ‘in your face’ education about waste issues,” Stuart said.
Visitors can readily observe how by not practicing recycling in the home a great deal of recoverable material is simply swept into landfill adding to landfill costs and environmental problems.
“Many people are not sure what they can do,” Stuart said. “We have put the groundwork in place and believe we can now increase recycling practice in the City to be above the metropolitan average.”
The next stage in the process will be working with other Councils in the northern region and developing a consultation process with all stakeholders in the push to reduce waste, including the Merri Creek Management Committee, Ceres, the Rethink Waste Wise Education Centre and the proposed Visy Plastics Education Centre in Reservoir.
