Council comes clean on what's going into recycling bins
Brisbane residents produce more than 90,000 tonnes of recyclable waste every year, with almost half being paper and cardboard, while 7 per cent goes to landfill.
Amid questions surrounding south-east Queensland council’s approach to recycling, Brisbane City Council’s field services committee provided an overview of the city’s approach to recycling, including what was going into resident’s recycling bins.
The council’s waste and resource recovery services manager, Arron Lee, said escalating landfill levies and glass was impacting Australia’s recycling industry.
“Glass is becoming an increasingly problematic waste stream right across the country,” he said.
“The reasons for that is the glass is getting thinner to be more competitive and put less glass in the bottle and therefore it breaks easily.
“Then it goes into the back of the garbage truck which compresses that up and little bits of glass gets into the paper, there’s a whole heap of issues associated with glass.”
Of Brisbane’s annual recyclable waste, 48 per cent, of 43,300 tonnes, is paper and cardboard while 34 per cent is glass.
About 4900 tonnes per annum, or 5 per cent, of the council’s recycling is plastic while 3 per cent is soft plastic and scrap paper.
Just 2 per cent of the contents of Brisbane’s recycling bins is steel, while 1 per cent is aluminium.
Mr Lee said 7 per cent, or 6100 tonnes, of the council’s recycling waste was sent to landfill as residents continued to incorrectly recycle.
Nappies, batteries, plastic bags, textiles, garden waste and food were often incorrectly placed in recycling bins.
Mr Lee said while most people did the right thing when it came to recycling, there was still 16 per cent of the contents of the city’s general waste bins that was recyclable.
“The important message here is keep recycling, but most importantly put the right things in the bin,” he said.
Field services chairman Peter Matic said it was important to maintain a sense of faith in the community that Brisbane City Council was serious and committed to recycling.
“We are doing the right thing ... we shouldn't be judged by what other councils are doing or not doing,” he said.