The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA) has applauded Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week initiative, which ran from 12 to 18 November and dovetailed neatly into Councils’ year long waste management and recycling initiatives. As the 12th annual event, this year’s National Recycling Week had two complementary aims: to link the benefits of recycling to the fight against global warming, and to encourage individuals and businesses to ‘Recycle More and Recycle Better’.
LGASA Executive Director, Wendy Campana, said Local Government in South Australia is an active participant in recycling initiatives, diverting over 55 per cent of household rubbish to recycling depots and composting plants.
“Even though Local Government is achieving great results in waste management, we are investing in research and development programs,” she said. “We have currently engaged independent consultant, Bill Cossey, to review Councils’ waste and recycling activities to identify areas where improvement could be achieved. The LGASA Waste Committee expects the Cossey report this month. Part of that report is assessing what is best practice waste management and recycling and what can be done to improve it. This includes policy instruments, such as the solid waste levy, which in reality is making recycling harder for Councils and communities because of added costs.”
Wendy Campana said approximately 300,000 tonnes of household waste is picked up at South Australian kerbsides per annum, with almost 170,000 tonnes per annum diverted to recycling depots and composting plants.
“We are assisting South Australian Councils to recycle by heavily investing in upgrading waste management infrastructure, such as the three bins initiative,” Wendy Campana said. “Councils also run ongoing community education and awareness programs to further improve our recycling and waste management practices.”
Barossa Council, located 70 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, used National Recycling Week to encourage residents to ‘Recycle More and Recycle Better’.
Barossa Mayor, Brian Hurn, said Council residents can help by learning about what they can and can’t recycle in their local area.
“When we recycle more, we reduce the need for new resources to create products and this helps to reduce our impact on the planet,” Mayor Hurn said. “When we recycle better we make the entire process more efficient.”
Research carried out for National Recycling Week by research company, Pollinate Green, reveals that while 56 per cent of respondents believe recycling is their responsibility, 80 per cent wrongly believe they can recycle broken wine glasses through kerbside collection services. In addition, almost half of those polled believe that contaminants like pyrex, plastic bags and ceramics can similarly be put into their home recycling. More than 50 per cent of respondents do not recycle their food scraps or garden clippings, yet these can be composted at home or through special Council collection services. This is an issue because decomposing organic waste emits methane from landfill, a greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide.
For more information visit www.planterark.com
