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RECYCLING CHANGES IN GLEN EIRA

If you are a Glen Eira resident, you may have seen information in your letterboxes and inboxes recently about a change in bin collections in our area. Our local council is putting the spotlight on household waste and now is the perfect time to stop and think about waste in your household! 

What is changing and why?

 

From Monday 26 July, Glen Eira Council will collect red landfill bins and yellow recycling bins fortnightly and green organic waste bins will be collected weekly. 

 

Here are some interesting facts about food waste:

  • In Glen Eira, around 40% of the waste in our red landfill bins is organic food waste;
  • Organic food waste emits methane when it rots in landfill, methane is a greenhouse gas with a warming capacity 25 times that of carbon dioxide;
  • Each Australian throws away $1000 worth of food annually;
  • The green bins in Glen Eira were upgraded in status to FOGO bins a couple of years ago. FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics.

(Glen Eira Council website, Planet Ark Recycling Week data)

 

Changing the way we recycle can have a significant impact on our carbon emissions. We live in a waste heavy world and it’s time we all considered how much waste we produce and what we should do about it. 

 

What can your household do to reduce landfill waste?

 

There are so many little things that individuals and households can do to reduce their waste footprint. Not only with food waste but all the other packaging that we use everyday!

 

Here are some suggestions from the McKinnon Environment Council on what you can do to reduce waste:

  • Collect food waste in a separate bin on your kitchen counter – make sure you read about what can go into the green FOGO bin
  • Collect soft plastic packaging separate to your yellow bin recycling and take it into supermarkets to be REDcycled
  • Do your homework on what plastics and packaging can be recycled in Australia. Planet Ark’s new labelling system breaks it down easy-peasy on many products you’ll find in the supermarket
  • Do you buy coffees or other drinks regularly? Get a reusable cup or water bottle, create a habit and stop chucking disposable cups and bottles into landfill.
  • When you buy fruit and veg do you use plastic produce bags? If you need to gather produce in a bag, consider a reusable mesh bag instead.
  • Don’t forget that we collect pens and stationary to be recycled with TerraCycle. If a pen/highlighter/marker runs out at home or at school, don’t throw it away, drop it off at one the collection points McKinnon.

While sometimes it feels like one person taking these steps doesn’t mean much, when a whole community takes action, the ripple effect is significant! Good luck everyone wherever you are on your waste reduction journey! 

 

Emma Griffingham

Environment Council Facilitator

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