Launceston households make gains in waste diversion
Published on 29 August 2022
The City of Launceston oversaw the weekly or fortnightly collection of approximately 72,000 waste, recycling and FOGO wheelie bins in the Launceston municipality in the 2021/22 financial year, equivalent to the collection of 2.1 million wheelie bins.
And by embracing recycling and FOGO collection services, Launceston households last year diverted the equivalent volume of 42 Olympic swimming pools of material away from landfill.
The Council collected a total of 24,303 tonnes of waste, recycling and FOGO material through its kerbside services in the 2021/22 financial year, compared to a total of 24,285 tonnes the year before.
The Council's latest data on kerbside waste and recycling in the municipality shows Launceston's FOGO service — the largest in the State — is increasingly diverting waste from landfill cells, with an additional 300 tonnes of FOGO material collected last year.
While the total weight of waste and recycling collected saw marginal decreases compared to the year before — total kerbside waste fell from 14,839 tonnes to 14,759 tonnes and kerbside recycling fell from 5700 tonnes to 5536 tonnes — in contrast, the total amount of FOGO collected through kerbside bins increased to 4000 tonnes, up from 3700 tonnes the year before.
The average Launceston household's waste wheelie bin contained 11 kilograms of waste, while recycling bins contained 9.3 kilograms of recyclables.
The average FOGO bin collected during the year contained 20.8 kilograms of organic material.
Launceston households generated the most waste in the lead-up to Christmas, with average weekly bin weights rising to 11.5 kilograms in November, up from a May low of 10.2 kilograms.
It was a similar story with recycling, with average weekly bin weights rising to 10.4 kilograms in January, up from a low of 8.8 kilograms in June.
Spring weather saw the average FOGO bin in Launceston rise to an average weekly weight of 26.9 kilograms in October, up from a July low of 15.9 kilograms.
The recycling centre at the Launceston Waste Centre also saw plenty of action through the year, recycling 1892 gas bottles, 4478 mattresses and 2925 tyres.
Nearly 350 tonnes of cardboard was recycled at the recycling centre, along with 124 tonnes of electronic waste, 32 tonnes of paint, 25 tonnes of car batteries and 14 tonnes of polystyrene.
A total of 376 tonnes of materials were recovered and diverted to the Uptipity resale shop managed by Launceston City Mission.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said residents were continuing to kick goals by diverting waste from landfill.
"By embracing kerbside services like recycling and FOGO, Launceston households are helping to divert more than 12,000 tonnes of waste from landfill each year," Mayor van Zetten said.
"In volume, that's about 42 Olympic swimming pools of uncompacted material — an incredible effort.
"This has real benefits in lowering our greenhouse gas emissions and it is something that everyone can contribute to."
City of Launceston Sustainability Team Leader Michael Attard said while kerbside recycling contamination remained low in Launceston, there were opportunities to improve it.
"We unfortunately still do see some items like nappies, soft plastics and dangerous items making their way into recycling bins," Mr Attard said.
"It's important to remember that there are people operating these recycling lines and they can be impacted by dangerous items placed in kerbside recycling bins.
"The best thing we can do is educate ourselves about what items can and can't be recycled through kerbside wheelie bins.
"The City of Launceston has recycling information and resources on its website, including our A to Z kerbside recycling guide, to make recycling simple."