Source: The Herald Sun, 20 November, 1996, p.12

Good and bad on garbage

 



 
By KRISTIN OWEN, 
environment reporter 
 
MELBURNIANS are 
throwing out larger 
amounts of garbage but 
recycling more too. 
 
   The average 
household's total waste 
increased again this year 
- by 0.24 to 16.32kg. 
 
   The study of 3000 
homes in 30 metropoli-
tan councils found 
households were 
recycling 1.5 per cent 
more material than last 
year. 
 
   Melburnians now 
recycle 605 per cent of 
recyclable waste, an 
increase of 15 percent 
since the first survey, 
according to the fourth 
Recycling Audit and Garbage 
Bin Analysis report. 
 
   Conservation and Land 
Management Minister 
Marie Tehan, who 
launched the report yes- 
terday, said the increase 
in household garbage 
was a worrying trend. 

   "We have to strive for 
improvement. We have 
to capture the 
recyclables not 
recycled," Mrs Tehan 
said. 
 
   The State Government 
wants the amount of 
waste going to landfill 
to be halved by 2000. 
 
   The survey was carried 
out over four months as 
"analysts" sifted through 
rubbish bins at 4am. 
 
   The Litter and 
Recycling Research 
Assochtion state 
manager, David 
Hitchcock, said by 
removing all recyclable 
material and green and 
food waste we could 
divert almost 80 per cent 
of the waste away from 
landfill.

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