The council is rolling out the second wave of yellow-lidded recycling bins to replace some of the green ones which have been in service since the early 1990s.
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From October 30, the older bins will be replaced by the new ones in Glen Innes – just put your bins out normally and old green ones will be replaced with the yellow-lid bins.
The rule will then unambiguously be: red top for general waste; yellow for recyclables.
The council says it is reviewing all bins in Deepwater, Emmaville, and Glencoe “with a staged replacement program to take place at the appropriate time”.
There has been confusion over recycling in the town, with Glen Industries, which organises it, saying that more than 40 per cent of the material in recycling bins can’t be recycled.
The offending material includes animal carcasses, babies’ disposable nappies, syringes and oil.
Glen Innes Severn Council hopes any confusion will end once the new yellow-lidded bins are there. A statement said: “Both council and Glen Industries are hopeful that the recycling prompts on the lid of the new bin will assist members of the community to better identify and separate their rubbish from recycling.
“Residents are urged to familiarise themselves with what constitutes recyclable items, and what is not suitable.”
It’s not clear, however, how much of the misuse of recycling bins is down to ignorance and how much down to indifference.
Earlier this month, a finger was pointed at Grey Street stores by Glen’s business forum, Business in Glen.
More broadly, Glen Industries has said there was also a problem with some households.
There has been an internal debate within the council and Glen Industries about how to get down the amount of inappropriate rubbish in the wrong bin.
More public information was one proposal. But some have suggested a tougher stance, including moitoring waste – like using cameras on the trucks.
Two years ago, Glen Industries suggested that the council should get inspectors to go on patrol in the truck to see what was being dumped by whom.
The view at the top of Glen Industries was that offenders should be punished by making them work at the processing plant so they could see how other workers had to deal with often putrid items.
Anyone who wants to keep their old bins should get in touch with Glen Industries. The council says: “Unregistered old bins will be automatically collected after that date (October 30).”
