Mixed recycling bin contamination
Maroondah has an average contamination rate in our mixed recycling bins of 13 per cent which is 2.5 per cent higher than the state average of 10.5 per cent (Sustainability Victoria, August 2020).
Contamination of recycling leads to greater costs for Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) when sorting our recycling into different materials. This reduces their efficiency, contaminates other materials which could have been recycled, and in some cases, endangers workers and breaks machines resulting in MRFs having to close temporarily so machinery can be repaired.
The main items that go into mixed recycling bins that shouldn’t be there are plastic bags and other soft plastics, paper towel, tissues and containers with food or liquid in them.
Food organics garden organics bin (FOGO) contamination
Maroondah has an average contamination rate in our FOGO bins of 4 per cent which is 1 per cent greater than the average metropolitan Melbourne Council.
The main item that goes into the FOGO bin which shouldn’t is ‘oversized’ materials such as branches longer than 40cm in length and logs which are greater than 10 cm in diameter.
Large items break our trucks and they take too long to turn into compost, even when using industrial composting technologies.
Other items that are incorrectly going into the FOGO bin are loose soil, rocks, treated wood, animal faeces, bagged garden waste, textiles and recyclable packaging.