Households across several towns and suburbs will receive larger recycling bins.
Noosa shire residents will be able to use 360-litre bins, after the local council secured $1.4 million in state government funding to help boost recycling and reduce waste sent to landfill.
Noosa Council data shows more than half of the 240-litre bins emptied each fortnight were full or overflowing. As a result, extra recyclables often ended up in general waste bins.
Council’s waste and resource and recovery manager Kyrone Dodd said too many recyclable items were going to landfill.
“Almost 20 per cent of our general waste still contains recyclable material,” Mr Dodd said.
“Landfill space is limited, so the more we can recycle, the longer we can make it last. These larger bins will make it easier for households to recycle more.”
Council expects the larger bins to divert an extra 975 tonnes of recyclable material from landfill each year.
“This initiative is also expected to deliver long-term savings for ratepayers,” Mr Dodd said.
“It costs more than double to manage a tonne of general waste in landfill compared to recycling, so the more we can move out of the red bin and into the recycling bin, the more we can reduce those costs over time.”
“We will repurpose the existing bins within the collection system, so they won’t become waste themselves.”
Local resident Robert McNamara said his household often filled its recycling bin before collection day.
“The added capacity of the new bin will help ensure we’re recycling every bottle, can, piece of cardboard and paper that we possibly can,” he said.
Bins in local government areas, including the neighbouring Sunshine Coast area, are commonly 240 litres, although residents can request larger bins.
Mayor Frank Wilkie said the state government funding would make a significant difference.
“This significant grant from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation’s Resource Recovery Boost Fund helps us deliver our waste strategy and supports the state’s recycling and waste diversion targets,” he said.
With grant funding secured, planning and procurement of the new bins will get underway. Council expected to start rolling out the new bins within the next 12 months.
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Residents will be provided with more information about the rollout and available options as planning progresses.
In a second grant boost from the state, Council also received $2.18 million toward a new covered waste sorting facility at the Eumundi Noosa Road Resource Recovery Centre.
Mr Dodd welcomed the funding.
“This will dramatically improve our capacity to sort construction, business and skip bin waste to ensure we’re recycling as much material as we can, further reducing waste sent to landfill,” he said.
