By Jessica Micallef
Public recycling bins for glass products will be installed in locations across the Macedon Ranges in the coming weeks, in response to the ongoing recycling crisis.
And the council has urged residents to continue to separate glass from their kerbside recycling as it considers adding a fourth bin to household collection services.
The council has endorsed plans to remove glass from mixed recycling household bin collections and investigate the introduction of a glass-only bin service for the municipality.
Public recycling bins for glass products will be installed in major towns to assist residents in removing glass from recycling bins.
At its meeting last week, the council approved the allocation of $505,000 to temporarily cover the cost of sending recycling to landfill, increased staff and the installation of public glass recycling bins.
Following the collapse of recycling group SKM on July 25, the council’s kerbside recycling was stored at Four Season’s Waste facility at Edgecombe Road, Kyneton. However, the facility only had the capacity to store about 14 days of material and as of August 10, all recycling has been directed to landfill.
The council has now identified a recycling company which will process the area’s recycling, but it will not accept glass.
The council’s acting assets and operations director Anne-Louise Linder urged residents to continue to separate glass from their recycling.
“Shards and small pieces of glass can become embedded in paper and cardboard in recycling bins and contaminate other recyclables,” she said.
Residents can also drop off glass free of charge at the council’s transfer stations in Kyneton, Woodend and Romsey.
About 650 Lancefield residents are currently taking part in a glass recycling trial. Those residents can continue to use their glass-only bins provided as part of the trials. The bins are collected monthly.
Macedon Ranges mayor Janet Pearce said she was looking forward to working with residents to manage waste and resource recovery.
“We’ve taken actions to respond to the waste crisis and look at innovative solutions to the problem,” she said.
“We’ve also taken progressive action to help our community respond. We want to ensure the cost of managing waste and resource recovery stabilises the community.”
Residents will be contacted and informed of the new arrangements. The council will meet in late October to consider long-term options for recycling, including the possible introduction of an additional glass-only bin for the entire municipality.
Details: mrsc.vic.gov.au/glass
