The Mornington Peninsula community is committed to recycling and most of us are doing our best to recycle right.
Unfortunately, contamination continues to be a major issue here on the Peninsula. Often the items we put in the recycling bin are soiled, for example with leftover food or sometimes items cannot be recycled at all. It is important to clean containers properly and make sure the items we throw into the bin with the blue lid are recyclable! If we don't do it right, we might end up contaminating the bin or truck, making our recyclables go to landfill instead of Polytrade, Mornington Peninsula's sorting facility.
A small minority of households continue to disregard recycling, significantly contaminating their bin regularly and undoing the good work of their entire street by contaminating the truck load. Significant contamination happens when hazardous items or too many incorrect items such as a bag full of rubbish or nappies have been placed in the recycling bin.
A contaminated bin or truck load is not only a burden to the environment adding to landfill, but also comes at a significant cost. Contaminated bins cost the Mornington Peninsula Shire and ratepayers approximately $600,000 per year.
We know recycling can be confusing. The Shire's waste education program aims to encourage households to recycle correctly. Our aim is to reduce the Peninsula's current recycling contamination rate which is five per cent higher than the Victorian average.
What do you think we should be doing to encourage everyone to take recycling seriously and put the correct items into the bin? Read our Draft Waste Contamination Policy and have your say on our website or join one of four online community drop-in sessions via Zoom to discuss the issue with us.
To learn more about the Policy, register for an online drop-in session or have your say go to mornpen.vic.gov.au/wastepolicy
To obtain a hard copy of the survey, call Customer Service on 5950 1000.
Consultation closes 17 January 2021.
