Fed: New website to combat recycling bloopers

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2001
Fed: New website to combat recycling bloopers

By Krystyna Pollard

SYDNEY, Dec 3 AAP - Next time you want to get rid of a dead shark or a World War II
grenade, please don't put them in your recycling bin.

That's the message from environmentalists who say sharks, grenades, live puppies, snakes,
dirty nappies even wads of cash are among the items that are being wrongly dumped in Australian
recycling bins.

According to a Roy Morgan research poll conducted for environmental group Planet Ark,
six out of 10 Australians still have no idea what is and isn't recyclable in their local
area.

Fiona Carrick of Waste Service NSW, the major solid waste and industrial liquid waste
service provider to greater metropolitan Sydney, said bullets, used syringes and dead
animals were often placed in the manually-sorted bins.

"We've had an awful lot of dead animals - cats, rabbits, a wallaby - and last week
at Blacktown they had two puppies," she said.

Two sharks were also found at recycling facilities in Sydney's west, she said.

"(There has been) a large amount of money, a couple of thousand dollars (and) ... a
heap of bullets, rifle bullets. Obviously someone looked at them and thought, `oh, they're
metal and I can recycle them'."

To help combat the amount of non-recyclable items placed in the bins, Planet Ark today
launched Australia's first internet guide to recycling in 699 local councils around the
nation.

The website has been two years in development.

The searcher simply types in their postcode or council name in order to find out what
can be recycled through kerbside collections or drop-off points in their local area.

Planet Ark founder, Jon (Jon) Dee, said the site would assist people wanting to recycle
anything from fridges to cars, or mobile telephones to simple paper products like milk
cartons.

He said many people were placing dangerous items like gas cylinders and fire extinguishers
in their council-provided recycling bin.

"The reality is that you have to follow local council instructions ... and only put
stuff in the bins that's supposed to be there in the first place," he said.

"Broken ceramic mugs, broken glasses and oven proof glass all end up as landfill. It's
all stuff that shouldn't be there in the first place."

Future plans for the site include pointers to local pounds for those looking for a
sensible way to "recycle" animals, as well as lists of shops run by charity organisations
that recycle household goods and clothing, he said.

"The aim is to create an absolute definitive database of everything," Mr Dee said.

Planet Ark also plans to expand the website overseas based on the Australian model, he said.

The website address is www.RecyclingNearYou.com.au

AAP kp/jjs/ldj/sb

KEYWORD: RECYCLING LEAD

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