Moonee Valley Council in process of securing permanent recycling agreement

Recyclables in Moonee Valley are set to stay far away from landfill as the council negotiates a permanent recycling contract with Cleanaway.

A permanent solution for recycling has been found in Moonee Valley.

Moonee Valley recyclers can finally breathe a sigh of relief as a permanent solution to the recycling crisis has been found.

Moonee Valley Council is establishing a new agreement with company Cleanaway, which purchased the SKM Laverton North site on October 9.

Before then, the council had come to a temporary recycling agreement with KordaMentha, which was managing the site on an interim basis.

The Laverton North site was previously owned by SKM recycling. Picture: Nicole Garmston

That agreement was set to expire on October 31.

The crisis began when recycling giant SKM closed its recycling services in July.

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Moonee Valley chief officer Bryan Lancaster said the council was working closely with new buyer Cleanaway to establish the new agreement.

“(We) can ensure that our community’s recyclables will continue to be processed after our temporary agreement with KordaMentha ends,” he said.

Moonee Valley Sustainability Group leader Teresa Day said the new agreement with Cleanaway was not the best way forward for the future of recycling.

“We should be thinking bigger and creating new systems,” she said.

“We need to be doing some other stuff. We need to be reusing as individuals and putting systems in place to reuse materials rather than recycle.”

The sustainability advocate said education was key to a positive future for recycling.

“Right now there’s basically a lack of responsibility and that’s what the problem is,” Ms Day said.

“People put all kinds of crap in their recycling bins, it’s just horrendous.”

She said recycling at large plants, such as the SKM Laverton North site, didn’t allow many materials to be recycled due to contamination.

“The contamination levels (at the site) are disgusting and there’s zero market value for the materials because they’re contaminated and can’t be used,” Ms Day said.

Cleanaway was contacted for comment but did not respond by the deadline.