Polystyrene recycling

Did you know that we now also take polystyrene at the Resource Recovery Centre? It is estimated that about 7 million wheelie bin equivalents of polystyrene are thrown away every year and only a small porportion of that is recovered and recycled. That has been the impetus for this new scheme involving several councils, including Port Phillip. Polystyrene takes up lots of valuable space in landfill - its mostly air. It is also distressing to see the little consituent beads make their way onto the beach and thence into the Bay. Find out more about the polystyrene recycling programme here.

Where does your recycling go?

The yellow lid bin has been emptied - then what happens? The City of Port Phillip's recyclables are taken by the collection truck to SKM Recycling in Coolaro. On their website is a short movie 'A recycling journey' that tells a tale of what to put in and - more importantly - what not to put in to the recycling bin. Its informative and fun.

Where do all the dead TVs and computers go?

I thought you might be interested to know where the electronic [e-waste] dropped off at the Port Phillip Resource Recovery Centre goes. It goes to PGM Refiners who recover or recycle 90% of the material they receive. I encourage a visit to their interesting website at www.pgmrefiners.com

Dumped televisions a thing of the past?

While there has been a lot of talk about container deposit legislation, there has been relatively less about the introduction of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme - now getting underway following the passage of the Product Stewardship Act in August 2011. The scheme will be funded and run by industry. The television and computer industry is now required by law to collect televisions and computers for recycling, and meet progressive recycling targets and meet certain criteria for safety and good environmental practice. The 1st annual recycling target is 30% in 2012/13 increasing to 80% in 2021/22. This could lead to dumped televisions becoming a sight of the past. Lets hope so. While the scheme is getting underway, remember you can drop off your electronic waste at the Port Phillip Transfer Station in White St, off Normanby Road near the Williamstown/Normanby/Ingles St intersection.

From throw away to resource recovery

Busy down at the Resource Recovery Centre today - used to be called the Transfer station - with many people taking advantage of the long weekend to tidy up. The Resource Recovery Centre accepts electronic waste [computers, TVs], green waste, mattresses, polystyrene, plastic garden pots, paint, cork - you name it - we do our best to find a way to recover the resources in the things we throw away. It is located on White St, just off Normanby Rd near the intersection of Williamstown/Normanby and Ingles St. There is no charge to drop off materials that are accepted for recycling.

National Recycling Week begins today

A few ideas for doing one thing differently this week. Avoid or refuse single use plastic such as drinking straws. The Council's Resource Recovery Centre [Whiteman St, off Normanby Rd] accepts paint, electronic waste, white goods, mattresses, plant pots, clothing and green waste. Find out how to print paper on both sides if you're not sure how. Participate in 3207 Beach Patrol's beach clean up on Saturday from 9 am - from the Port Melbourne Yacht Club, end Bay St. Check that there aren't any recyclable items going into your waste bin. Take home any plastic bottles you pass on your way round Port Melbourne and put them in your own recycling if there isn't a recycling bin handy. More ideas?

image Climate Action

Fridays

Friday is Port's recycling and waste day. Sometimes people are not quite sure what they can put in the recycling. This guide explains. Putting recycling in a sealed or unsealed plastic bag is a no no. Recycling in plastic bags is not accepted. Over full bins may also be rejected. Its a bit like going to the supermarket and taking 2 litres of milk when you have only paid for 1. The 3 Rs these days are not so much roads, rates and rubbish as refuse, re-use, recycle.

Annual Report shows how we are going on waste and recycling

Council adopted the 2009/10 Annual Accounts and Annual Report tonight. The Annual Report is full of interesting Council detail. I will post a few more snippets over coming days:

• Waste and recycling: Annual waste collection per bin was 567.4kg
• Resource Recovery: the volume of e-waste, paint, batteries, light bulbs and textiles being dropped at the Resource Recovery Centre rose dramatically to over 6 tonnes of material diverted from landfill a month. This includes around 15kg of batteries per month collected via recycling drop-off points at town halls

[I attended 22/22 Council meeetings, and 10/10 Statutory Planning meetings]

Five good reasons to recycle aluminium cans

I find it hard to walk past an aluminium can without picking it up for the reasons given below. I hope after reading them you might take aluminium cans you see lying about home for recycling.

• they are 100% recyclable, and because they remain in one piece when opened, the whole container is recycled
• 95% less energy is used when making an aluminium can from recycled material compared to raw materials - this represents a huge reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
• empty cans are light weight and easily crushed, which means they are easy to take home for recycling when you can't find a recycling bin at the beach or the park
• they are light weight and compact [compared to glass for example] making them easy and efficient to transport
• over the past 25 years aluminium cans have become 30% lighter. Thinner, stronger sections are now being used with less metal, less energy and more savings in weight. An average aluminium can [without its contents of course] wieghed 16.05 grams in 1992. By 2005 the aluminium can weighed about 14.7 grams

Source http://cans.planetark.org/

Port Phillip Council draft budget 2010-11, 5

.7% of the increase in rate income is to pay for the increase in the landfill levy which has gone from $9 per tonne in 2009/10 to $30 per tonne from 1 July 2010.
The purpose of the increase is to drive diversion from landfill, stimulate waste avoidance, resource recovery and recycling, and invest in alternate waste treatment facilities.
If you are interested to read more go to http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/waste/default.asp

Anticipating the change, council is accepting a growing range of items at the Resource Recovery Centre cnr White St and Boundary Road (Mel 2EF11) including electronic goods, mattresses, batteries, green waste, white goods, and paint.
It is open Monday to Friday 7.30am to 3.30pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9.00am to 1.00pm

Spring/Summer cleaning

If you upgraded your computer or tv over the holiday period, you can take your old equipment to the Resource Recovery Centre at the City of Port Phillip.


In addition to electronic waste, we take:

• household batteries - all types (you can also leave these at any of the Town Halls including Port Melbourne)
• mattresses
• green waste
• paint and paint cans
• light bulbs
• fluorescent tubes
• car parts, batteries and tyres

While you're there, pick up some mulch to protect your garden from the next hot day.

The Resource Recovery Centre is at the corner of White and Boundary Streets, South Melbourne and is open Monday to Friday 7.30 to 3.30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday 9.00 to 1.00 pm

Following our recyclables to their sorting place

Councillors visited SKM recycling in Coolaroo.

SKM recycling process all the recyclables we put in the yellow lid bin. SKM collect recyclables from 12 councils from Port Phillip to Mornington. The plant relies on volume to warrant the high level of capital investment in a range of extraordinary technologies to separate the recyclables.
They told us:

Never put your recyclables in a plastic bag

Plastic bags are automatically discarded because anything could be inside - syringes, nappies.
All materials are on sold.
All plastics (except polystyrene) are separated by optical sorters.
Plastic film is difficult to deal with - it gets mixed up with the paper and cardboard and doesn't have a ready market.
Paper and cardboard moves through the facility very quickly
Broken glass is a significant issue in recycling. The small fragments are had to deal with. Glass is used in the manufacture of cats eyes, paint
If you would like to have a look at where your recyclables end up and what processes they go through visit
http://skmrecycling.com/
It is amazing reflect on the journey of a plastic bottle has been created from raw materials, filled, transported, the contents consumed and then sent by truck to a recycling facility in Coolaroo.
Even then it has not finished its journey.
It is baled up, put on a container, trucked back to the Port of Melbourne (19 truck movements a day) and shipped off to China to be made into another product.