Rubbish effort: 64 per cent of our waste can reused, reduced or recycled

Council has recently revealed just how rubbish Toowoomba residents are when it comes to recycling – and the shocking stats kind of stink.

RUBBISH EFFORT: New data has shown 64 per cent of Toowoomba’s waste can easily be reused, reduced, recycled or avoided altogether. Here’s how.

When it comes to recycling it appears the Garden City is more of a Garbage City with new data from council revealing a whopping 64 per cent of the waste typically placed in a general waste bin can be avoided, reused or recycled.

Council’s portfolio leader for water and waste, councillor Nancy Sommerfield said it was imperative Toowoomba residents understood just how far their recycling efforts went in terms of reducing the region’s foot print.

Water and waste portfolio leader Councillor Nancy Sommerfield inspects the upgraded polystyrene recycling machine at the Greater Toowoomba Waste Management Facility.

“I can understand how confusing recycling can be sometimes because every council has different rules on what can and can’t be recycled,” she said.

“I’m really keen to develop a special sticker inside the lids of our yellow recycling bins with our local recycling capabilities in the near future as we work towards establishing a new waste contract which is yet to go out to tender but should be in place by next year.”

A breakdown of the 64 per cent revealed:
– 29 per cent was food waste, which could have been avoided or composted at home,

– 16 per cent was green waste, which could have been recycled in the green waste bin or composted at home, and

– 19 per cent was recyclables which should have gone in the yellow recycling bin

Ms Sommerfield said it was important for Toowoomba residents to work harder to reduce what they buy, reuse what they can, recycle everything possible and use disposal as the last resort.

“There’s a common misconception out there that our recycling doesn’t actually go anywhere which couldn’t be farther from the truth,” she said.

“After our kerbside contractor, JJ’s Waste and Recycling collects the bins from the street, they take it to their local facility where it is bulked up for transport by B-double truck to Visy’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Brisbane for sorting, processing and transport to their, or other facilities within Australia and overseas for further processing.”

Ms Sommerfield said council had also expanded their recycling capabilities to include paint, old mattresses and even styrofoam which can be turned into building materials.

To find out more about all of the Toowoomba recycling facilities, locations and rules follow this link.