Redland residents are being urged to be mindful of what they place in their waste, recycling and green waste bins with poor waste and recycling habits contributing to a $3.6 million rise in waste management costs for Redland City Council over the last two years.
“Placing the wrong material in the wrong bin is not only environmentally irresponsible, it is also costing ratepayers significantly,” said Redland Mayor, Karen Williams said.
“Based on recent waste audits, almost 37% of what we collect from household waste bins is green waste which could easily be recycled through Council’s garden organics ‘green bin’ collection service or at the recycling and waste centres.
“With changes to the State Government’s Waste Levy Rebate set to come into effect in future years, specifically onwards from 2023-2024, everything residents can do to reduce landfill will have a positive impact on Council’s bottom line. The levy is being brought in across the state to reduce waste to landfill.”
The Mayor said the cost of waste management is set to increase with the State waste rebate to start decreasing from July 1, 2023. By 2030/31 it will reduce to 20% which will add more than $10 million in waste levy costs unless households commit to reducing waste to landfill, she said.
Council says residents can reduce their waste overnight by more than 60% by doing the following three things:
- Get a green waste bin or take their green waste to the recycling and waste centres
- Compost their food waste at home via home composting systems
- Recycle the right items (lift the right lid)
Council has recently adopted a new Waste Reduction and Recycling Plan which will put Redlands Coast on the path to becoming a zero waste society by 2050.
Mayor Williams said the key focus of the plan is to encourage residents to ‘lift the right lid’ to ensure the right waste was going in the correct bin to reduce how much waste was going to landfill.
“Waste is one of the biggest challenges we face as a city, state and nation and Council’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Plan is all about reducing our waste footprint by encouraging the community to adopt some simple but important practices,” she said.
