It's National Recycling Week!
Published on 07 November 2022
This week is National Recycling Week, so we’re shining a light on some awesome re-use and recycling stories from around the Peninsula.
Brainwave Bikes
Since partnering with an amazing organisation called Brainwave Bikes a few months ago, we have salvaged over 60 unwanted bikes that were dropped off at our Resource Recovery Centres! These bikes will be repurposed by Brainwave Bikes and resold at affordable prices. All profits go to Brainwave Australia – a charity supporting children with brain injuries and illnesses.
Did you know we also have a Recycled Goods Shop at our Mornington Resource Recovery Centre? It’s a treasure trove of items that were salvaged at our Centres and can now be purchased at low-cost. Definitely worth checking out the next time you stop by, you’ll never know what you’ll find – one’s trash is another’s treasure!
Learn more: brainwavebikes.org.au
Recovery stations
In August, we introduced a new service to recycle tricky household items. Four new recovery stations were installed at the Rosebud, Hastings, Somerville and Mornington libraries.
The free recycling service is for those hard-to-recycle objects that can’t go in your kerbside recycling bins, such as: electrical cables and cords, mobile phones and cameras, DVDs and CDs, X-Ray films and fluorescent light globes.
We are really excited that the recovery hubs have been a huge success and extremely popular! In August we collected 174kg of material and in September another 810kg – that's 984kg of material already been diverted from landfill!
Learn more: mornpen.vic.gov.au/recoverystations
Recycling trailer
Our mobile recycling trailer has been roving around the Peninsula visiting lots of community groups/organisations for a few weeks at a time.
Unwanted clothing and small electrical items can be dropped off at the trailer to be rehomed or recycled rather than being sent to landfill. This wonderful idea was sparked by the Flinders Lions Club.
Since this service began in 2021, we have collected over 11,000kgs of unwanted household items and most of these items have been rehomed in communities who really need them the most.
Find out when the trailer is next near you. The trailer is also available for hire by community groups/organisations. The trailer can be booked for up to four weeks and will be delivered to each location.
Learn more and book the trailer: mornpen.vic.gov.au/recyclingtrailer
See you later polystyrene
In October, we introduced a trial collection and recycling service for clean, domestic Expanded Polystyrene (EPS). Previously, this troublesome material was being sent directly to landfill. In the first two weeks of our trial, we collected more than 35 cubic metres of polystyrene which is now being recycled and diverted from landfill – winning!
Food waste
In the last three months alone, our very popular food and green waste service has seen at least 550 new green waste bins and more than 195 kitchen caddies delivered to households. Since launching in 2021, we’ve had nearly 19,000 households opt-in for the service!
We recently extended this service to schools and early learning centres with established food waste management programs in place.
Many of our schools and learning centres are already composting onsite, and household/ backyard composting continues to increase in popularity across the Peninsula also. This quarter we also processed 23 rebates for domestic composting systems, which were delivered directly to households across the Shire.
Learn more: mornpen.vic.gov.au/foodwaste
Peninsula Teachers for the Environment Network
We facilitate a Peninsula Teachers for the Environment Network. Thank you to our wonderful teachers that are part of the network who have been doing an amazing job encouraging their school communities to recycle right and raising awareness about waste and reuse practices.
Learn more: mornpen.vic.gov.au/teachersenvironetwork
Recycling Right on the Peninsula
The Victorian Government is working with councils to support the roll-out of a new standardise household waste and recycling system for more and better recycling and less waste and landfill. The final plan is due to be released at the end of 2023.
This may mean changes in the future as to what can and cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin. As these changes are implemented, we’ll inform and educate our community of these changes.
For now, use our waste and recycling disposal guide and handy recycling stickers to know what can and cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Councillor Anthony Marsh:
“We want to thank our community for their support and involvement. By recycling right, we are giving unwanted items new life and making progress towards our target of zero waste directly to landfill by 2030.”