Congratulations to our 2015/16 Waste to Art Overall Winner, Jack Fox of Condobolin.

Jacks’ amazing work is titled “Alzheimer’s”. It won the category for High School 3D and then went on to take out the overall winners prize.  Jack describes his work as; “Hast du einen vogel”? is a German expression meaning ‘Are you crazy? or more literally ‘Do you have a bird in your brain’?. My work is a physical manifestation of this as it relates to, and explores the process and memory loss, as the bird flies away with the old
mans brain.

FOR A FULL LIST OF THE 2015/16 REGIONAL WASTE TO ART WINNERS CLICK HERE

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE2015 VILLAGE WASTE GRANT RECIPIENTS Millthorpe Village Committee

The committe are using their grant to establish a  water refilling station. You can find out more information about applying for the 2016 Village Waste Grant here.

New Community Recycling Centres (CRC) have been built in different Council areas to help deal with problem wastes’ including: paint, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, batteries, oils, smoke detectors, fluoro globes and tubes

Community Recycling Centre Locations

COUNCIL                                      LOCATION                                                                   CONTACT
Bathurst                                         Bathurst Waste Management Centre                 02 6332 9111
Blue Mountains                           Katoomba Waste Management Facility            02 4780 5000
Broken Hill                                    Broken Hill Waste Management Facility           08 8080 3300
Gilgandra                                      Gilgandra Waste Management Facility              02 6817 8866

For more information visit the EPA website  or contact the Councils listed above.

Waste management agency NetWaste has launched a new tool in the bid to reduce contamination in recycling bins across several of its 27 member council areas.

A new video clip series will feature on social media platforms aimed at helping inform residents on what items can and can’t go in their recycling bins.

“Communities within the NetWaste Region do a great job of recycling but we still can do better. Contamination in recycling bins is a problem and there are some common items that people put in the recycle bin that shouldn’t be there. Most people I talk with want to do the right thing but it can be confusing so hopefully these videos will help answer some of those questions about which bin”, said Environmental Learning Advisor Sue Clarke, “and we encourage you to ask questions via our NetWaste Facebook or Twitter Page. If you are unsure send us a message and let us know because if you are confused about an item, you can be sure someone else is as well”.

“With these new video clips, we’re hoping some of the crucial mistakes people make regarding their recyclables can be reduced and we can make a real difference to the volume of glass, cardboard and aluminium and steel waste items that we are sending to be recycled into new products.”

In the first of three videos of the fictional game show “Name that Bin” the contestant Jane is asked which bin should empty aerosol cans should be placed in.

Jane answers correctly by choosing the recycling bin, and she is also reminded that paper, cardboard, glass, tin, steel, juice cartons and plastic containers and bottles should go in the recycling bin – but with the lids off first.

“Everyone can be a ‘garbage guru’ if they watch the video clips and take in the tips on how we can make sure we choose the right bin every time,” said Ms Clarke.

“We believe the videos are a fun way of getting a serious message across – it shouldn’t feel like you’re under pressure on a quiz show to know which waste items should go in which bin. If residents can have a bit of a laugh while they’re watching the videos it may help the message stick – everyone’s a winner if we don’t contaminate our recyclables!”

The videos will be released via the NetWaste facebook and twitter accounts and can also be found at https://youtu.be/ioNUrDr1unU

The videos will coincide with the release of NetWaste’s Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to recycling.

The NetWaste Top Ten Recycling Tips – #10

• DO recycle empty aerosol, steel (tin) and aluminium cans. Did you know currently only 35% of our steel cans are recycled in Australia?
• DON’T place empty gas cylinders or metal coat hangers and broken aluminium chairs in the recycling bin. Check with your local council or use a Community Recycling Centre to dispose of gas cylinders

Media Contact: Sue Clarke 6393 8771 or 0400 336 508

Local waste management group NetWaste is celebrating its 20th birthday by recognising the milestones it has achieved to work with member councils and raise the profile of waste management within the NetWaste Region.

NetWaste was established in 1995 to provide collaborative approaches to waste and resource management.

It consists of 27 member councils which cover more than 40% of the state. During the past two decades, the focus of the group has evolved considerably to now deliver targeted waste projects, education and community engagement programs as well as member council assistance.

“The initial aim of NetWaste was to ensure essential waste service requirements were met for residents and to deliver service efficiencies via regional waste management contracts,” said NetWaste Executive Officer Steve Campbell.

“We’ve achieved that and so much more in the past 20 years. We’re very proud of the milestones we as a group have been able to reach over that time – be it kerbside recycling and green waste collections in several communities or educating residents about reducing food waste with cooking classes and workshops.”

Collaboration between neighbouring regional and rural councils to reduce the costs of waste management and establish share facilities has been a great success for NetWaste.

“Waste management costs per unit are naturally greater for rural and regional residents than for their metropolitan counterparts, because of the significant travel distances and low population density,” said Mr Campbell.

“Our member councils get access to the alliance network we have established to help overcome some of these issues. Joint contracting has seen significant savings for councils including Blayney, Orange, Parkes, Forbes and Cabonne while partnerships between other councils like Gilgandra and Bogan, Cowra and Weddin for kerbside recycling processing has seen affordable options offered to residents.”

Planning strategically and thinking regionally for waste management has become the focus of the organisation and during the past few years many communities have benefited from this approach.

·         Over the last two years NetWaste in collaboration with our members councils has been able to attract over $8.5 million into our region through the state government Waste Not Recycle More Program.

·         The village of Millthorpe in the Blayney Shire was the inaugural winner of the Village Waste Reduction Challenge this year, winning a grant to design, construct and promote a new water bottle refill station to reduce the number of plastic water bottles thrown away

·         Community Recycling Centres have been established in Gilgandra and Bathurst in the last twelve months, giving residents a facility to take old paint, used oil and gas cylinders and batteries. Three more CRCs are in the planning stages at Dubbo, Blue Mountains and Broken Hill

·         The Household Chemical Cleanout is again operating across member councils in November, collecting old poisons, house paint and cleaning products

·         Since 2011, almost 500,000 litres of used motor oil has also been collected from residents that would normally have ended up in landfill through the Used Oil Collection

·         Bathurst, Forbes and Parkes residents will have a new food and garden waste kerbside collection from next April

·         Six member councils will also clamp down on illegal dumping in their shires under a new campaign to reduce dumping of waste in national parks, recreational areas and private properties. The Lithgow, Forbes, Parkes, Cobar, Central Darling and Lachlan Councils hope to reduce the trend of people dumping animal carcasses, asbestos and construction materials and old car parts in remote or dense bushland with a targeted media campaign and additional inspectors in 2016

·         The annual Waste2Art project has resulted in thousands of entries of artworks since being established in 2005

Media Contact: Sue Clarke 6393 8771 or 0400 336 508