Recycling is not just about the environment, it is also about repurposing a valuable resource, selling it onto markets and then circulating back into the economy.
Every year we make roughly $500,000 from recycling in our region, but general waste that goes directly into landfill costs us around $8 million.
Councils are working very hard to flip that statistic by educating people on the way we view our recyclable materials.
When we stop looking at items as objects and start looking at them as materials, this completely changes how we interact with our recycling bins.
Glass, metal and plastics are just some examples of materials we use every day that are worth money and can be on-sold to companies that will repurpose them into valuable products.
Did you know that glass can be used as an alternative to gravel when making bitumen?
Every week, all the yellow bins from across the Whitsundays are emptied and transported down to the Mackay Material Recovery Facility for processing.
Receiving roughly 60,000 tonnes of recyclable materials each week, the team of 10 dedicated staff work long hours to process all the items, repurposing as many as possible.
A high level of contaminates, roughly 17 per cent of what arrives at the station, will be transferred onto landfill and the rest will be directed into holding bins where it is stockpiled until its market value increases and it can be sold for profit.
Materials are moved across a slow-moving hopper, under a trundle wheel and over a conveyor where they are manually pre-sorted.
They then run past a magnet and through a green machine computer with Artificial Intelligence which takes photo of every object dictating where each item goes.
Glass is then used by Mackay Council for house levelling and roads, steel is sold to business Raw Metal Corp., who operate nearby, and plastic is sent to Brisbane where it is on-sold to China.
But what happens to it after this?
An important part of the recycling process is that the product it becomes is then bought and used by everyone – from big business to Councils and households right across Australia.
“It’s the recycle cycle,” said Alyssa Zammit from Mackay Regional Council.
“We need to be buying back what we sell - it’s all well and good that our plastics get recycled but we need to then be making a conscious decision to buy something that is a recycled product to create a circular economy.”
Mackay Regional Council work with a company called Replas who make items such as bollards, seats and park benches for the region.
Plastic Forest and Close the Loop are also excellent companies to buy recycled items from.
On a smaller scale, we can all make sure we look at what we purchase at the supermarket.
Mackay Regional Council offer free tours of the recycling plant which are open to everyone, from individuals to school groups.
The tours are informative and fun, with bookings available through Council.
Recycling Tips
• Wash out all containers first
• Never recycle batteries, they are highly flammable
• Recycle lose items – anything in a bag will go to landfill
• Do not recycle shredded paper
60,000 tonnes of recycling passes through the Mackay Material Recovery Facility each week
Once sorted, items are stockpiled until market value goes up and it can be sold for a profit
