Targeted waste and resource recovery education activities The MidCoast Waste Management Strategy informs the Waste and Resource Recovery Education Plan 2020-2024 to focus on the following objectives: • • • • • •
Increase in diversion from landfill through correct recycling Decrease in contamination of recyclables through correct recycling Increase in household waste taken to Community Recycling Centres Increase in food waste diversion from landfill Decrease in the use of soft and single use plastics Reduced incidence of illegal dumping and littering
NSW EPA Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, funded from the waste levy, provides $119,000 annually for activities to increase waste diversion from landfill. Re-imagine Waste is the over-arching theme for activities designed to encourage and inspire change in attitudes and behaviour amongst MidCoast residents. Current programs dealing with specific waste streams include: • •
Workshops, training and equipment to encourage composting of food waste which comprises around 34% of household waste Tours of the Material Recovery Facility at Tuncurry and general community and schools recycling education aimed at reducing contamination in the yellow recycling and green organics bins and increasing diversion from the red landfill bin
Council undertook a range of waste and resource recovery education activities during the reporting period, with increasing reliance on delivering via digital and mixed media platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following three programs highlight some of the targeted education activities. Scraps to Soil Currently one third of all household waste thrown away and sent to landfill is organic and compostable. Putrescible waste in landfill contributes to methane production and to landfill leachate. The Scraps to Soil program aims to divert this food waste from the household red landfill bin into compost. Whilst our workshop program was paused due to COVID-19, the online learning tutorial and subsidised compost bin offer continued to attract household participation.
State of the Environrment Report 2021
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