No time wasted for celebrating recycling

IT'S birthday time for Northern Rivers Waste and what better way to celebrate than with a community open day.

Northern Rivers Waste is celebrating 15 years with an open community day. Picture: Contributed

IT'S birthday time for Northern Rivers Waste and what better way to celebrate than with a community open day at the Recycling & Recovery Centre.

Northern Rivers Waste is Lismore City Council's waste operations arm and was launched 15 years ago to help Lismore get its act together and deal with waste created in its own backyard.

It has seen waste management transform from a series of dirty landfill sites into the modern Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre, which processes around 20,000 tonnes of recyclables annually for remanufacture into new products.

First to get organic certification

Lismore was also the first council in Australia to receive 100% organic certification for its compost made from food and garden waste, and has also pioneered phytocapping (the use of native vegetation to cap landfill) in NSW and the use of renewable energy to power its operations.

Council's Waste Education Officer Danielle Hanigan explained that Ballina, Byron, Richmond Valley and Tenterfield councils are now sending recycling to Lismore for processing, and the open day is a great chance for people outside Lismore to see this regional recycling hub in action.

The Dirty Dozen

"Our education campaign The Dirty Dozen: 12 Recycling Rules for Your Yellow Bin is now being rolled out across the region and the open day is a wonderful opportunity to put the campaign in context, take a tour of the recycling facility and see what happens after their wheelie bin is collected,” Ms Hanigan said.

"We will have tours throughout the day of our $3.65 million Materials Recovery Facility - an amazing machine that sorts and separates recyclables for resale - as well as the recently upgraded composting pad where we turn green waste and food and garden scraps into compost.”

The community open day will feature a Recycled Market and Old Wares Sale and there will be guided walks through the Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens and landfill rehabilitation areas.

There is also plenty of free family fun with a wheelie bin lifting competition, recycled craft and composting activities for kids, recycling games, cooking workshops, an interactive water catchment model, free face painting, food and coffee, a recycled sculpture display and prizes and giveaways.

Event details

Northern Rivers Waste's 15th birthday community open day is on Saturday, November 19 from 9am to 2pm at 313 Wyrallah Road, East Lismore. All activities are free and everyone is welcome.