Mixed reactions to six-bin ‘fix’ for broken recycling system

With a new report recommending six bins to fix Melbourne’s broken recycling system, Emily Dickson says it might be a tight squeeze.

Emily Dickson, 44, with her son Sebastian, 3 and Henry, 5 with a recycling bin in Richmond. Picture: David Geraghty

Emily Dickson says six bins might be a bit hard to squeeze into her Richmond yard but she’d happily embrace the additions to her inner-city Melbourne kerbside.

Ms Dickson, 44, thinks that if the bins were smaller than regular wheelie bins, she’d be all for it.

“I want to be environmentally savvy of course,” she said.

“We want to do our bit to help the environment and minimise waste.”

A new interim report by Infrastructure Victoria released on Monday flagged Melburnians separating materials into organics, plastics, paper and card, glass, metals and a regular waste bin, as a potential solution to the state’s broken recycling system.

"Victoria's current co-mingled system does not produce sufficiently clean streams to support end markets for recycled materials," the report said.

Broken glass is the biggest contaminant of recyclables, which means what people put in their recycling bin is likely to end in landfill. Kitchen scraps make up 35 per cent of the waste sent to the tip.

Victorians nearly doubled the total waste generated between 2000 and 2018 to 13.4 million tonnes a year, from 7.4 million tonnes, the interim report said.

The report praises the Welsh system where residents separate the waste into 6 different crates and the recycling rate increased from 20 per cent to nearly 70 per cent.

There was mixed reaction to the proposal on Monday.

SKM Recycling is piled sky-high in Melbourne warehouses. Picture: Supplied

Dean Hurlston from Ratepayers Victoria was not a fan.

“If anyone thinks that six bins is in any way cost effective, practical, or reasonable for a consumer, they should be in the bin,” he told Seven News.

“For inner urban councils we just can’t fix six bins on our small properties,” Port Phillip Mayor Dick Gross said.

Councillor Coral Ross, President of the Municipal Association of Victoria, said a container deposit scheme would be a better solution than six bins.

“We should have a container deposit scheme that separates out bottles and cans for recycling,” she said.

“We’re the only state not to either have one or have committed to one,” she said.

But an Andrews Government spokesman told The Australian introducing a container deposit scheme was not a priority.

Ms Dickson reckons the extra bins would suit her household better than a container-deposit scheme.

“I know I would have all the intent in the world but I know I probably wouldn’t do it,” she said.

“If someone just shoved me a whole heap of bins and said do this … I would be really happy to be the trained monkey and follow that.”

The report found there was potential for a viable waste-to-energy sector in Victoria but clear policy guidelines were needed to encourage investment.

The collapse of waste export company SKM in July threw the state’s recycling system into chaos. More than 30 councils who used the company for kerbside recycling collection were forced to make other arrangements including dumping recycling into landfill or stockpiling the waste.

The state government announced in August a $6.6 million package to assist the 33 affected councils left with the waste as well as $4.7 million to support projects that will improve the quality of 100,000 tonnes of recycled material.