Holiday Season: The need to develop responsble recycling

By ScrapMonster

While the holiday season is great for spending precious time with our families, it is also responsible for generating a tremendous amount of waste in the form of wrapping paper and packaging materials

We all enjoy the fun and the thoughtful gifts inside the packaging and paper but it is important we recycle as much of the packaging as possible.

In a recent report the Kerbside Recycling in Metropolitan Melbourne, had shown that 88 per cent of Victorians surveyed had a high level of commitment to recycling.

Victorians are enthusiastic recyclers and I urge them to maintain this commitment during the festive season.

Sixty percent of householders surveyed said they sometimes throw items in the waste bin because they are unsure if they can be recycled. This report shows we all need to learn and be more aware of which items go in what bin.

For instance, plastic bags and soft plastic wrappings should not go into recycling bin, nor should items such as ribbons, tinsel, non-paper bon bons and crackers.

To make it a little easier to recycle outside your home, the government has provided funding through the Roadside Litter and Public Place Recycling Grants program to make bin signage simpler and clearer, as well as installing new comingled recycling bins.

Polystyrene packaging was another major cause of waste over the holiday season, particularly with online shopping.

The Victorian Coalition Government has funded the establishment of drop-off facilities for expanded polystyrene across metropolitan Melbourne through the new Driving Investment for New Recycling fund announced earlier this year.

Eight facilities are now open for collection in South Melbourne; Werribee; Moonee Ponds; Camberwell; Reservoir; Campbellfield and Notting Hill.

Victorians could also use the recycling bins that Coles had set up at 114 stores across the greater Melbourne region. These bins can be used for plastic bags and other flexible plastic packaging which are then turned into outdoor furniture for schools and kindergartens.

We all need to play our part and the holiday season and the start of a New Year is a great time to renew our commitment to making Victoria a more sustainable and environmentally friendly state

Courtesy:sustainability victoria