This National Recycling Week we’re setting the record straight on some of the most persistent recycling misconceptions.
We all know recycling is awesome, but sometimes it can be a bit confusing.
National Recycling Week (9 to 15 November) aims to educate and empower people to do the right thing when they’re at the bin. To celebrate, we’re setting the record straight on some of the most persistent recycling misconceptions.
Read on as we clear up those myths, with data!
Myth: Recycling uses more energy than making new products.
Fact: Manufacturing products from recycled materials uses significantly less energy and fewer resources than making them from raw natural materials.
For example, according to the Aluminium Association of Australia, recycling aluminium saves around 95% of the energy required to produce aluminium from raw bauxite.
Myth: Sending food scraps to landfill instead of the FOGO bin doesn’t matter because food is natural and breaks down.
Fact: When these food scraps and other organic waste from your garden goes into landfill, it takes up space and produces methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent at warming our planet than carbon dioxide!
Remember, if it’s food or garden waste, it’s FOGO!
Myth: “People illegally dump rubbish because it’s too expensive to visit the tip.”
Fact: EPA research suggests the main drivers for illegal dumping are convenience and lack of understanding of correct disposal methods.
In addition to your regular kerbside bin collections, it’s actually free to bring cardboard, batteries and e-waste, light bulbs, oils and paints to the Community Recycling Centre at Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park. It’s also free to book a kerbside Household Clean-up for rubbish, certain recyclables like mattresses, tyres and appliances, and scrap metal. Each household in the Wollongong LGA is entitled to book two of these collections per financial year.
Council hosts free green waste drop-offs annually to help residents get their gardens ready for summer. These are happening on Sunday 15 November at Fred Finch Park, Berkeley , and Sunday 22 November at Ray Robinson Oval, Towradgi .
At the Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park landfill, mixed household waste and green waste is charged by the tonne on the weighbridge. The fees are outlined on Council’s website , with a proportion going to the NSW Government for the waste levy, before we cover staff processing, and environmental maintenance costs of the landfill.
Myth: We don’t have to recycle. There’s plenty of room for more landfills!
Fact: Suitable landfill sites are becoming increasingly difficult to find and develop.
Modern landfills require specific geological, environmental and planning conditions to protect groundwater, waterways, communities and the environment. New sites must undergo extensive environmental assessments, obtain regulatory approvals, and gain community acceptance, all of which can take many years and cost millions of dollars.
As the population of Wollongong (and Australia) grows, available landfill space is being used more quickly, while fewer locations meet the strict requirements for new landfill development. That’s why reducing waste, reusing materials and increasing recycling are essential to conserving valuable landfill capacity for the waste that cannot be recovered or recycled.
Myth: Takeaway coffee cups go in the yellow-lid recycling bin – it says “biodegradable”
Fact: Most takeaway coffee cups contain plastic mixed within the paper, which the machinery can’t process. For this reason, in Wollongong, takeaway coffee cups belong in the red-lid rubbish bin.
The best option is to avoid takeaway coffee cups all together! Sit in and have your coffee at the cafe or keep a reusable coffee cup in your car or bag to use when out and about – Some cafes will even reward you with a small discount!
Don’t listen to the myths – Download Wollongong’s new waste app, provided by LoopedIn Councils, to find clear, accurate and locally relevant waste and recycling information.
It’s available in both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
