South Australians recycle more than those in any other state, reusing up to 68 per cent of all waste.
The latest figures, provided to The Advertiser yesterday, show people in SA recycled more than 1500kg of waste per person in the past year. In fact this was slightly exceeded by the Australian Capital Territory where residents recycled 1667kg a person. Slightly splitting hairs here as ACT is not officially a “State” Well done both!
This is almost twice as much as those in Western Australia, who recycled 812kg per person, and more than 600kg more than those in New South Wales who recycled 903kg.
SA Environment Minister Gail Gago said 2.43 million tonnes of material was diverted from landfill in the past year and this prevented the equivalent of about 0.93 million tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere,” she said. “This compares to taking 214,000 passenger cars off the road. ”
In a further boost to recycling in SA, 10 state councils and 16,000 residents are to take part in a six-month trial to introduce the roadside collection of food waste.
A new initiative to reduce organics going to landfill and producing methane is an $800,000 pilot program will result in kitchen waste being combined with garden organics. Residents will be given a bench-top container for food waste such as vegetables and meat scraps. These will be emptied into the garden organics bin for kerbside collection and specific processing. It will be turned into valuable compost to enrich our soils,” Ms Gago said.
Participating councils are Adelaide, Campbelltown, Charles Sturt, Mitcham, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters, West Torrens, Whyalla, Wattle Range, Light Regional and Mallala.