Plastics pile up amid recycling industry uncertainty

Councils have been criticised for their failure to honestly inform the community about the future of recycling as the stockpile at a recycling facility steadily grows.

IMAGES of a recycling facility in Hobart’s northern suburbs show recyclable materials piled high.

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust on Thursday criticised southern councils for their failure to honestly inform the community about the future of recycling following the insolvency of SKM Recycling on August 2.

The Local Government Association of Tasmania responded to the criticisms saying recyclables in Southern Tasmania are still being collected and sorted.

LGAT said in a media release that no Tasmanian councils are burying recyclables in landfill and that “for the short-term, plastics are being baled and stored”.

TCT director Peter McGlone responded on Friday after he visited the SKM Derwent Park Materials Recovery Facility where he said he saw the yard and shed close to full with bales of plastics and other materials.

“LGAT does not say what will happen to plastics when SKM’s Derwent Park facility is full and without additional storage space they will presumably have to be landfilled,” Mr McGlone said.

“Contrary to LGAT’s claim that plastics are being sorted, the bales I saw included plastics, aluminium and cardboard along with some contaminants.

“Either the sorting process is very inefficient or aluminium and cardboard are also being stockpiled.”

Tasmanian Conservation Trust director Peter McGlone among the bales of plastics at the SKM recycling plant in Derwent Park. Picture: ROB BLAKERS

LGAT said southern councils are concerned about the long-term viability of the facility and are monitoring the situation closely.

LGAT president Christina Holmdahl said southern councils had not misled the community.

“If the MRF managed by SKM at Derwent Park closes, the southern Tasmanian councils will be making every effort to ensure that recyclables do not go to landfill,” she said.

Victorian waste giant SKM was declared insolvent following a Supreme Court ruling at the end of July which granted the company an application to wind up the business after it failed to meet the deadline to pay its creditors.

Hobart, Glenorchy, Kingborough and Clarence are among the councils that send recyclable waste to SKM’s material recovery facility at Derwent Park.

LGAT assured the public that SKM Derwent Park has not been materially affected by the Victorian issues and that southern Tasmanian councils have consistently been advised that it is business as usual.