Toowoomba Region residents' enthusiasm for recycling expanded polystyrene (EPS) has seen more than 17 tonnes of the packaging material processed at the Greater Toowoomba Waste Management Facility (GTWMF) at O'Mara Road since May 2020.
Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) Water and Waste portfolio leader Cr Nancy Sommerfield said Council had been overwhelmed by residents' keenness to recycle the bulky packaging material, prompting an upgrade of the O'Mara Road recycling machine and the imminent relocation of the original unit to the Kleinton Waste Management Facility.
"More than 17.3 tonnes of EPS have been processed at the GTWMF in a little over a year. This has seen 1,574m³ of EPS diverted from landfill, which is the equivalent of 25 average home swimming pools," Cr Sommerfield said.
"Council has installed a new, larger capacity machine at the GTWMF in order to more efficiently process the volume of material delivered by residents.
"The new machine can process up to 200kg or 18m³ of EPS per hour, which is about double the capacity of the original machine.
