Melton council will crack down on its recycling services, with roving inspectors to make spot checks on bins to ensure people aren’t dumping household rubbish in recycling bins.
People can be fined $200 for incorrectly disposing of waste.
New figures reveal the contents of o
ne in six recycling bins collected from Melton households ends up at the tip – almost twice the average number for other metropolitan councils.
Council operations manager Les Stokes said one of the biggest problems was people putting recyclables into bags.
Bagged items are automatically discarded at Visy materials recovery centres because the contents cannot be identified when on the conveyor belt.
Empty plastic bags put into recycling bins can also cause costly machine jams. Due to their lightweight nature, the plastic bags are sorted by machinery the same way as paper, but then get stuck.
“Our municipality continues to grow, which means more waste and the potential for more wasted resources through contamination, so we need to address this now,” Mr Stokes said.
Several years ago the council implemented a similar bin inspection. Mr Stokes said a recent audit showed residents believed the inspections were an effective way to reduce the level of contamination.
He said a personalised approach to bin inspections was more effective than generic educational messages in newspapers.
After an inspection, residents who have done the right thing, “getting it right on bin night”, will receive a “happy” bin tag and will enter a monthly draw to win a double movie pass.
Mr Stokes said only cans, bottles, plastics that hold their shape, foil, paper and cardboard should be disposed of in the yellow-lid bins.
Textiles, including clothing, e-waste such as computers, and nappies should not be placed in the recycling bins.
“Council understands that people move into the City of Melton from different countries, from interstate or simply from other councils in Victoria, and that these may have differing waste and recycling practices depending upon the available technology and end markets,” Mr Stokes said.
During the inspection program, which started this month, residents are also being advised of recyclable materials being lost through kerbside garbage bins.
