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New plan could see four bins for more Aussie households

Four bins could be introduced to Victorian households in the wake of the collapse of SKM Recycling.

According to a new report from professional services company EY, Australia could make $328 million worth of recyclable material each year if world-class recycling systems are implemented.

The report proposes a number of reforms to ensure our recyclables are treated as valuables instead of trash. A new bin or bin dividers to stop recycling from co-mingling and contaminating each other has been floated as an answer to the recycling crisis.

According to the Herald Sun, the Victorian state government is working on a policy that could introduce a fourth bin to households to stop recycling contamination.

The implementation of a fourth bin would follow moves of other local government areas.

Households in the Northern Beaches Council area in Sydney have four bins – red for general waste, yellow for recyclable containers, blue for paper recycling and green for vegetation.

Four kerbside bins in the Northern Beaches Council area in Sydney. Source: Northern Beaches Council
Four kerbside bins in the Northern Beaches Council area in Sydney. Source: Northern Beaches Council

‘Waste needs to be treated as a tradable commodity’

If Australia treated recycling waste like iron or coal the nation could be $300 million better off each year.

Australia makes just $4 million a year from recycling due to high levels of contamination in co-mingled recycling bins.

"We must start realising and treating our waste as a tradeable commodity, like iron ore or gold, rather than just waste," said EY Climate Change and Sustainability Partner, Terence Jeyaretnam.

"The old way of sorting our waste is not the right fit for 21st century Australia.

"Not only does it lead to poor environmental outcomes, it's preventing us from grasping an opportunity worth hundreds of millions per year."

Pictured (left) is a recycling and general waste bin and (right) rubbish in landfill.
A report found Australia could be making more than $300 million a year if recycling was treated as a valuable. Source: AAP

Australia's popular co-mingled method of recycling is reducing the value from a typical kerbside bin to as low as $2 a tonne.

The report found Australia could get as much as $156 a tonne if the recycling was sorted better.

For example, a high-density polyethylene milk bottle collected as mixed plastic waste has a market value of $110 a tonne – well short of the market value for clean bottles at $500 a tonne.

"Contamination rates in Australia average between four and 16 per cent of collected recyclable material," the report says.

"These high contamination rates are a key reason why countries across Asia closed their doors to Australia's waste."

Recycling crisis as Aussie waste is turned away

Australia's recycling industry is in crisis after several overseas countries stopped taking Aussie waste, and local processors were unable to keep up with demand.

Tonnes of recyclables are seen in a warehouse in Derrimut, Victoria.
Abandoned recyclables from failed SKM Recycling in Derrimut. It is estimated to be 10,000 tonnes. Source: Nine News

Major player SKM Recycling collapsed owing millions of dollars after regulators shut down some of its processing plants and it was no longer able to send recycling overseas.

Victorian councils are currently paying to send recycling straight to landfill rather than getting it processed.

The EY report recommends better education about contamination, making it more convenient to recycle, improving sorting and developing new markets for recyclable materials.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to do more to tackle plastic waste in the world's oceans, promising to ban the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres.

Mr Morrison says only about 12 per cent of materials are properly recycled in Australia and he wants that to change.

With AAP

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