Sort out rubbish from recycling to save money

Dardanup shire residents have three months to make sure they are putting the right things in the correct bins after council was able to link the contracts it negotiates with Suez to contamination rates.

Following China’s decision to ban different categories of foreign waste last year, recycling costs across the country have increased.

Ratepayers in Dardanup will be charged an extra $15 this financial year to cover increasing costs, but further changes to the price charged by the council’s recycling contractor will be linked to residents doing the right thing.

Shire president Mick Bennett explained if the level of contamination in the waste Suez collected from the area increased so would the amount the contractor charges per tonne.

“But if we can get our rate of contamination down, so too will the price they charge us,” he said.

“We have three months to make a difference and save ourselves some money.”

An audit of recycling contamination levels will be jointly conducted by Suez and council in September along with random audits to gauge progress.

A community education program will be run by the council over the coming months so residents know what rubbish to place in what bins.

Cr Bennett said residents could check what should and should not be recycled on the back of their waste calendars.

“We’ve already seen that our community is very responsive to information on this topic and open to change,” he said.

“In the 2017-18 financial year, we recorded a doubling in the amount of recyclables collected for the first time in four years following our BYO Bag campaign and circulation of associated information.

“In the same time period, the amount of domestic refuse collected and taken to landfill recorded a significant drop — that shows us we are recycling more, we now just need to do it better.”