We are working with you to reduce contamination found in yellow recycling bins and green food and garden waste bins.
Bin inspection program (now underway)
Our bin inspection program helps us:
- reduce contamination
- minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill
- increase safety (ensuring hazardous materials stay out of recycling).
The program works by providing Glen Eira households with tailored feedback and support on the items in their yellow and green bins.
Recycling and waste sorting can be tricky. This program aims to help everyone learn what belongs in our yellow and green bins — and what should be kept out.
What’s involved?
Household recycling and green waste bins are checked on collection day.
The inspection is done by lifting the lid of the bin and looking at the contents inside. Inspectors check for any contamination (non-accepted items) that might be hazardous or impact recycling.
Households then receive feedback through a colour-coded bin tag.
Check the table below to see what your bin tag means:
|
Tag type |
What it means |
Additional information |
|
Green or yellow tag |
Great work! No contamination was observed. |
Thank you for recycling right. |
|
Orange tag |
Did you know? Some contamination was observed, please keep these items out of this bin next time. |
Specific feedback will be provided on the tag. |
|
Red tag |
Oops! High contamination was observed, please keep these items out of this bin next time. |
Specific feedback will be provided on the tag. |
|
Red tag and sticker across the lid |
Rejected bin — When contamination in the bin is very high, or where hazardous items are seen in the bin, we will leave the bin uncollected and place a sticker across the bin lid with a red bin tag. |
The bin will not be collected and the residents will be required to remove the contamination or hazardous items and dispose of them correctly before contacting the Council to arrange a collection. |
How do I dispose of the tag?
Once you’re ready to dispose of your tag, please pop it in your red general waste bin. Our bin tags are laminated with a matt finish to be more weatherproof. This prevents them from being recycled in the yellow bin.
Why do we want to reduce bin contamination?
Contamination is any item that doesn’t belong in the yellow recycling bin or green food and garden waste bin. Contaminants are sent to landfill and can cause recyclable items to be rejected and sent to landfill as well. Some contaminants can injure staff or damage equipment.
Some items that are considered contaminants in your green or yellow bins can be recycled another way. Check our recycling A – Z to see if your item can be repurposed or recycled another way.
Using recycling and green waste bins correctly helps ensure accepted items can be sorted and recycled into new products or composted for use on farms and gardens.
Results from our last inspection program
Over the two-year period of our last bin inspection program, we assessed the yellow and green bins of 55,070 households for contamination. Overall, we found our community to be recycling right in the yellow bin and using the green bin for food scraps.
With the variety of materials and items that we use at home, we know it can be hard to keep track of what goes in each bin. Our bin inspection program is one way we can check in on how our community is sorting waste and identify areas for more support.
Across all of Glen Eira, bins of each stream contained about 4% visible contamination on average.
If bins contained high levels of contamination (red tag), we provided tailored feedback and noted the address for a return visit.
On our first return visit to these addresses, about a third of the material in the yellow bins, and over two thirds of the material in the green bins, was considered contamination. With further feedback, this dropped dramatically. With our second and third return visits, we saw contamination drop to below a tenth. It was great to see the feedback adopted and the contamination reduced to such a degree.
|
|
First Return Visit |
Second Return Visit |
Third Return Visit |
|
Yellow Bin |
30.6% |
9.8% |
8.5% |
|
Green Bin |
72.5% |
12.5% |
9.6% |
The main contaminants in the yellow and green bins were:
|
Yellow Bin |
Green Bin |
|
|
