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Waste & Recycling

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle By Trainee Environmental Health & Building Officer Jessica McFarlane By now a majority of Grenfell Citizens would have noticed the completed and on-going works happening at the Grenfell tip. The works have included compacting resourses with the newly purchased compactor, and the shredding and collection of greenwaste materials. However, no matter how much work is put into the Grenfell tip by Council, it is up to the citizens to decide how long the tip will last. There are massive loads of resources being dumped at the tip every day. These resources include cardboard, paper, some plastics, glass, steel and aluminium. It is easy to get involved in recycling and it doesnt take a lot of effort. Simply purchase several bins, depending on the resources used in your household and mark them according to the materials you intend to place in it. When the bins fill, take them to either the Grenfell Waste Depot or the Grenfell Recycling Depot and place in appropriate piles or containers according to materials. So why recycle? Every tonne of paper recycled saves almost 13 trees. It saves 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100 kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill and 31, 780 litres of water. Each steel or aluminium can and each glass bottle keeps valuable non-renewable resources such as bauxite, iron-ore and sand in the ground. Every recycled item saves energy that would normally be used in mining, harvesting, manufacturing and transporting. And recycling helps to reduce harmful greenhouse gases like methane entering our atmosphere. Recycling paper means less paper going to landfill, where it rots down into methane. Recyclable material makes up almost 80% of total household waste in Australia, so every item recycled is one less to be buried in landfill. It is also important to buy recycled materials. That's the "cycle" in recycling: You sort out recyclable materials, they are collected, and manufacturers buy them to make them into products again. By selecting those products when you shop, you can spur companies to use more recycled materials and keep the ball rolling. So look for products made from recycled materials, and buy them. Dont forget to check the packaging of the products you buy. Buying products that have less packaging means fewer resources used and encourages manufacturers to cut down on their layers of packaging. Recycling is easy. You dont have to alter the way you do things, it involves minimum effort, and it saves the environment, which is something so important we cannot live without it.

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