By Zoe Watkins, MRA Consulting Group
Zoe Watkins takes a closer look at the Recycle Mate App while trying to sort out the yellow recycling bin.
Australia has a national average contamination rate in the yellow lid bin of about 12 per cent. To try to reduce that rate both the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) and Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) have developed education tools – Recycle Mate App and the Australian Recycling Label (ARL) respectively.
Recycle Mate tries to make it clear what is recyclable and what is not but falls short at the grey boundary – it doesn’t provide a clear line between what is recyclable and what isn’t.
For some packaging, knowing what is recyclable, is easy. Think drink containers, paper and cardboard. But when it comes to rigid plastics and other newer packaging products it’s more difficult.
What is the difference between a Plastic Bottle Lid and a Plastic Soft Drink Bottle Lid? Why can one be recycled and the other not?
People know what paper, cardboard, glass drink containers, and aluminium is. What they can’t distinguish is the vague line in plastic packaging.
The question is what are the criteria that deems some products acceptable and others not? Right now, we don’t know.
The relevant considerations should be: Does the council contract allow it; do materials recovery facilities recover it cost effectively; are there markets for the material; and who is going to pay for it?
ACOR has been trying for years to get a common agreed position for MRF inputs. We are still a long way from that.
We need one standard list of acceptable items for the yellow lid kerbside recycling bin. It should not be left to individual councils, or MRF operators, to decide.
It is worth remembering that all yellow bin recycling is funded by councils. They pay for collection, and they pay for MRF services. Ultimately, what is collected is their decision to specify in their contracts and tenders.
Unfortunately, councils don’t have a representative body to help make these decisions.
A standard Service Agreement List from the NSW Model Contract for Collection of Yellow bins is pretty loose in respect of plastic packaging.
As set out in the agreement, ‘recyclables’ means the following containers, packaging and products emanating from Service-Entitled Premises:
- Recyclable Paper and Cardboard as defined below;
- Liquidpaperboard cartons;
- Glass bottles and jars;
- Aluminium rigid and semi-rigid packaging;
- PET (1), HDPE (2) and PVC (3) rigid plastic packaging;
- Other rigid plastic packaging including LDPE (4), PP (5), PS (6), Other (7);
- Steel rigid packaging, including aerosol cans; and,
- Any other recyclables as agreed under this Contract.
As a result, different councils allow different materials and MRFs interpret what is recyclable without reference to a national agreed list.
No wonder residents are confused.
The answer is for councils, the ultimate consumer of yellow bin recycling services, to set the ground rules via standard contracts and tenders. That requires local government to set up a representative body to work with MRF operators and the recycling industry and agree, build, and fund common systems across Australia.
For more information, contact: info@mraconsulting.com.au
Zoe Watkins is the Office Manager at MRA Consulting Group.
MRA Consulting will delve into the Australian Recycling Label in a future article.
