Seven schools in Burnside Council marked down over waste disposal

Waste disposal practices at seven schools in the Burnside Council area are rated as “poor” with too much rubbish being sent to landfill, a council director says.

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Seven Burnside schools are not disposing of their waste “as well as they could be”, a council environmental officer has told elected members.

It comes as the council says the misplacement of organics into waste-to-landfill bins was costing it “hundreds of thousands of dollars each year”.

Local schools with “poor waste management systems” have asked the council for extra support, according to a newly issued council waste report.

Burnside’s environment and sustainability officer, Phil Roetman, told elected members on Tuesday night seven schools had deficiencies when it came to waste disposal.

“Schools aren’t managing their waste as well as they could be, in terms of sending too much to landfill — and often not having the correct facility to send recycling and organics to the appropriate places,” Mr Roetman said.

“There’s a fair bit of ad hoc management of waste in schools. It’s something we’ve been looking into.”

The council provides support to schools through advice on waste disposal and the issue of bins.

However, collection is generally handled by the schools themselves or the Education Department.

Mr Roetman identified the problem of residents putting organics in waste-to-landfill bins as the council’s “biggest issue”.

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The cost of this malpractice was “substantial”, the report found.

“Sending the compostable matter to be composted would cost a fraction of the amount,” it read.

“If all residents put all their compostable material in their compost bins, it could save the City of Burnside hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.”

Contamination in waste-to-landfill bins is an “ongoing issue” for the council because too many residents are not aware of available recycling practices.

The council spends about $3.8 million on kerbside waste collection and management each year.