Moreland homes offer up their bins to those affected by SKM shutdown

Stuffing rubbish in your neighbours’ bins when yours is overflowing might be frowned upon, but in Melbourne’s north it’s being offered as a temporary solution to those hit by the collapse of SKM Recycling.

Neighbours are offering bin space to affected by the recycling crisis.

A “recycling buddy program” encouraging those in council areas unaffected by the SKM crisis to share their bin space is gathering steam.

Lisa O’Halloran set up a Facebook group to co-ordinate the effort, and offer three quarters of her recycling bin to anyone who needs it.

In the Northern Suburbs Curbside Recycling Rescue group, people in areas serviced by Visy recycling such as Moreland and Maribyrnong can post their location and how much bin space they have.

Then recyclers from affected areas such as Darebin can use those bins and ensure their waste goes to a recycling centre, and not landfill.

SKM Recycling has been declared insolvent.

Ms O’Halloran said her household started to cut down waste after the recycling issues began about 18 months ago.

She said it was a tricky world to navigate with lots of information, but they gradually cut down their waste to around one quarter of a recycling bin every fortnight.

Now she hopes to help people who haven’t been able to cut down.

“What we’ve been told is there’s no end to this crisis,” she said.

“We’re not going to catch everything and we don’t want to fill up Visy. The intention is to get people thinking about waste.”

SKM Recycling temporarily closed late last month and, on Friday was ordered to cease operating.

Supreme Court Judicial Registrar Julian Hetyey granted an application to wind up the company, declaring it insolvent after it failed to meet the deadline to pay its creditors.

Ms O’Halloran said she hoped people would make signs to put on bins to advertise their availability and to spark conversation about sustainability.

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“The way my nonna used to live in East Brunswick is the most sustainable way,” she said.

“People are selling the reusable bags my nonna used to take to the Vic Markets every week.

“Things weren’t wasted, things weren’t bought unnecessarily.”

Ms O’Halloran said she was just trying to play a small part in improving society’s sustainability.

Moreland Council has been contacted for comment.

@richardapearce