South Burnett Regional Council address recycling bin controversy

The South Burnett Regional Council has addressed residents’ confusion over the region’s recycling process, following the recent arrival of rate-increasing bins.

The South Burnett Regional Council has addressed confusion over the region’s recycling process, following the recent arrival new bins.

The arrival of the yellow recycling bins in January to the South Burnett region has stirred mixed reactions from residents who are questioning council’s recycling process.

The divided reviews began when the South Burnett Regional Council announced the introduction of kerbside collection of recycling bins in October 2022, aligning the region with the Queensland government’s strategy to reduce waste.

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Residents have flooded social media expressing dissatisfaction at the $67 annual rate increase the recycling bins will incur and questioning the Cherbourg recycling centre’s process.

South Burnett resident Dylan Malcolm said he wondered if council actually recycled the items.

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Another resident posted: “I bet it all goes in the same landfill anyway”.

Kingaroy pensioner Robert Stephensen said he did not want a recycling bin.

“I took mine to the council chambers in Glendon Street and left it at their door,” Mr Stephensen said.

A council spokeswoman said all councillors visited the Materials Recovery Facility last week and witnessed the materials being unloaded from the recycling collection trucks and being processed.

“The recycling materials are collected using separate trucks clearly marked with different artwork on the truck body, compared to the general waste truck,” she said.

A South Burnett Regional Council spokeswoman said once the materials were sorted they were baled separately and stored on site. Photo: Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council

“The recycling materials collected from the kerbside through the yellow lid recycling bin are then taken to the Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council-owned and operated facility in Cherbourg.

“The co-mingled load is sorted using a combination of special machines and hand sorting by team workers.”

At the Cherbourg facility, materials are carefully categorised into cardboards and paper, plastics, metals and glass.

The spokeswoman said once the materials were sorted they were baled separately and stored on site.

“These bales are then sent to respective industries for recycling where they are converted to usable products,” she said.

The South Burnett Regional Council encouraged residents to attend a free recycling workshop at Kingaroy Town Hall on February 23 and at Nanango Cultural Centre on February 24 at 4.30pm.