An investigation into the glass recycling system in Western Australia has discovered that two-thirds of the 85,000 tonnes of bottles and jars used in the state each year go into landfill. One bottle i…
An investigation into the glass recycling system in Western Australia has discovered that two-thirds of the 85,000 tonnes of bottles and jars used in the state each year go into landfill. One bottle in three left for kerbside collection by diligent householders also goes to the dump. The inquiry by newspaper The West Australian has revealed the cost of recycling is so prohibitive that at least one regional council has been compelled to stockpile 240 cubic metres of glass bottles and jars in a pit and another, the City of Geraldton-Greenough, does not offer kerbside glass collection for the same reason. Since the closure of the state“s last recycling plant in December 2003, councils and recyclers have paid thousands of dollars to ship glass to O-I Australia“s bottle plant in Adelaide, South Australia. It receives just 20,500 tonnes of glass from Western Australia a year. Despite more than 60,000 tonnes being dumped into landfill each year, the hospitality industry is already opposing the possible introduction of a container deposit scheme first proposed by the State Government in 2005. Domestic and commercial users would pay AUD 0.10 – 0.20 on glass bottles, which would be reimbursed when taken to a nominated deposit point. Perth MLA John Hyde chaired a working party investigation on the idea. It found councils were subsidising the packaging industry and recyclers by between AUD 50,000 and AUD 200,000 a year and the responsibility for recycling should be put back on the bottle manufacturer. “The day we introduce a container deposit system we will re-establish these industries in WA and in regional WA where we need the employment, exactly as happened in California”, he said. But O-I Australia product manager Warwick Hassan said the company had closed its Western Australia plant because more than half the bottles produced there had to be shipped east for use, which was not economically viable.The company paid about AUD 44 a tonne for Western Australia glass and subsidised the transportation costs. Shire of Manjimup waste management officer Klaus Mueller said those subsidies were insufficient and for 18 months his council had stockpiled glass in a pit. Western Australia Local Government Association president Bill Mitchell said glass was difficult to sort, expensive in terms of wear and tear on equipment and it was not fair that councils had to pay the clean-up bill. Australian Hotels Association Western Australia president Bradley Woods said takeaway sales accounted for 90% of the glass used by the hospitality industry, which he claimed had a high level of recycling.
