Preferred resource recovery practices by local councils. Best bin systems

Transcription

1 Preferred resource recovery practices by local councils Best bin systems NovemBer 2011

2 This guide helps local councils and industry provide best practice collection systems for households to increase recycling. Municipal is predominantly generated by households. While recycling has increased dramatically (in , the NSW community recycled 45 per cent of the municipal it generated) many recyclable materials that could be recovered and returned to the economy are still disposed of. This guide aims to promote greater recovery of the organics and dry recyclables. Bin audits conducted in 2008 showed that almost three quarters of the contents of the average residual (red lid) bin in Sydney was recoverable, including 40 per cent food, 11 per cent garden organics and 23 per cent dry recyclables. More comprehensive and up-to-date data will be obtained from the 2011 bin audits. This guide includes: preferred bin-based recovery systems, standardised mobile bin colours and a standard set of dry recyclables to be collected from the kerbside (Table 1) baseline and interim targets and performance outcomes (Table 2) the resource recovery performance of various systems (Table 3). Note that councils may choose to implement different service levels across their local government area (LGA). In some cases, a council may be able to apply the same service level across the LGA and benefit from resulting economies of scale and ease of community education. In other LGAs, variations within the community may make it more suitable to provide different service levels across the LGA. An example of variations within a community is housing density in areas where there is a combination of single and multi-unit dwellings. Table 1: minimum service standards for collection Local council resource recovery experience reveals that councils achieve relatively higher rates of resource recovery where they provide household collection systems (e.g. bin types, size and collection frequency) that complement the technologies used to recover and treat the collected material. A council s decision on the type of household collection system and treatment technology will also depend on issues such as cost, transport, community acceptance and housing type. Councils need to consider the specific circumstances within their council area. Specifically, higher resource recovery is generally delivered through a three bin collection system with separate bins for residual, dry recyclables and food/ garden organics or collection systems where the residual is processed through an alternative treatment system. This guide sets out preferred minimum service levels for consideration by local councils when they review existing services, or enter into new collection or reprocessing contracts. Service characteristic Collection systems for residual (garbage) Minimum service standard Standard mobile bin size of 80, 120 or 140 litres collected weekly. 240-litre bin collected fortnightly where a weekly food and garden organics service is provided and an optional weekly service is available for households with products such as nappies. Selection of the residual bin size and collection frequency should include consideration of the size and frequency of other services, bin audit results, community demand etc. Disposal to landfill should be the last resort when every effort has been made to avoid and to recover generated. Waste disposal must be carefully handled to minimise negative environmental outcomes. Alternative treatment technologies can recover some of the mixed residual stream, and can stabilise and reduce the amount of the that must still be disposed of to landfill. Continued over page >> 2 3

3 Service characteristic Minimum service standard Service characteristic Minimum service standard Collection systems for dry recyclables 1 X 240-litre mobile bin containing commingled dry recyclables collected fortnightly. 2 X 120-litre mobile bins, one for paper and cardboard and one for other dry recyclables such as glass and plastic containers, collected on alternative weeks. The use of crates for dry recyclables is not recommended due to significant OH&S hazards. Increased service levels, such as increased bin size, additional bins or more frequent collections, should be available for large families and good recyclers. a. b. Standard MGB colours Australian Standard Mobile Waste Containers Part 7: Colours, markings, and designation requirements a. Domestic residual (garbage) bins should be dark green or black mobile bins with red lids. b. Domestic dry recyclables (fully commingled or containers only) should be dark green or black mobile bins with yellow lids. c. Domestic paper and cardboard-only bins should be dark green or black mobile bins with blue lids. d. Domestic garden organics and combined garden and food organics should be dark green or black mobile bins with bright green/lime lids. c. e. Domestic food organics only bins should be dark green or black mobile bins with burgundy lids. Collection systems for organics (garden or combined garden and food) 1 X 240-litre mobile bin for organics or alternative organics service. 1 X 240-litre mobile bin for organics allows Councils the flexibility of introducing co-collection of food and garden organics services when suitable (e.g. where there are appropriately licensed and accessible processing facilities, a group of councils has collaborated on arranging for a regional processing facility to compost such ), or there is local demand for co-collection of such. d. e. Standard range of dry recyclables for collection in the dry recyclables mobile garbage bin (MGB) Standard recyclables are: recyclable paper and cardboard including newspapers, magazines, phone books, cardboard packaging and liquid paperboard glass bottles and jars steel cans and aerosols aluminium cans, packaging and foil all plastic containers 4 5

4 Table 2: Performance outcomes from separate bins for dry recyclables and garden organics The following performance outcomes can be expected from the use of separate bins for dry recyclables and garden organics, where the bin size, collection frequency and household education are optimised to match community needs. Performance outcomes Unit Description Net yield per household Kilograms per household per week Total kerbside recyclables collected per household excluding gross contamination* Net yield per capita Kilograms per person per week Total kerbside recyclables collected per person excluding gross contamination* Recyclables Recovery rate Contamination rate* % by weight % by weight Percentage of materials recovered for processing Contaminants placed in the recycling bins by householders Performance outcomes Recovery rate Garden Organics Contamination rate* Unit % by weight % by weight Description Percentage of materials recovered for recycling or processing Contaminants placed in the garden organics bins by householders Baseline target # N/A N/A Interim target # 85% 1% * Gross contamination is defined as contamination that is caused by the incorrect disposal of material by households in their recycling containers. This does not include losses during collection or other system losses at the Material Recovery Facility. # These targets will be reassessed as more information becomes available. A target will also be developed for co-collected food/garden organics. Note: The OEH Guidelines for Conducting Household Kerbside Waste, Recycling and Organics Audits provides methodologies for measuring these performance outcomes. Baseline target # N/A N/A Interim target # % 3.5% 6 7

5 Table 3: resource recovery Performance Collection systems Characteristics Challenges Estimated recovery rates # Three bin system including commingled food and garden organics, with residual processed at alternative treatment (AWT) facility. Organics (garden and food) Council areas with high proportion of single dwellings Community achieving high recovery rates and low contamination levels in dry recyclables and garden organics Engaged, environmentally aware community Community acceptance and willingness to participate Access to AWT for the processing of residual Access to commingled food and garden organics processing and markets Strong commitment and resourcing for community education from pre service roll out through to the end of the contract. Matching frequency of collection and size of bins to community desires and generation rates across the whole community. Domestic resource recovery rate 70-85% (Note: assumes 30% recovery by AWT from the residual bin) Three bin system including commingled food and garden organics, with residual disposed of to landfill Organics (garden and food) High proportion of single dwellings Community achieving high recovery rates and low contamination levels in dry recyclables and garden organics Engaged, environmentally aware community Community acceptance and willingness to participate No access to residual AWT facility Access to commingled food and garden organics processing and markets Strong commitment and resourcing for community education and engagement. Matching frequency of collection and size of bins to community desires and generation rates across the whole community. Domestic resource recovery rate 55-70% ( Note: assumes half the available food in the residual bin is captured in the organics bin) Three bin system, including garden organics, with residual processed at an AWT facility. High proportion of single dwellings Access to AWT for the processing of residual Strong commitment and resourcing for on going community education regarding contamination. Domestic resource recovery rate 75-80% (Note: assumes 55% recovery by AWT of the material in the residual bin) Organics (garden) 8 9

6 Collection systems Characteristics Challenges Estimated recovery rates # Three bin system, including garden organics, with residual disposed of to landfill High proportion of single dwellings No access to residual AWT and garden/food processing facilities Contamination management and education of householders is important to minimise contamination and maximise resource recovery. Domestic resource recovery rate 40-60% Organics (garden) Two bin system with residual processed at an AWT facility High proportion of multi-unit dwellings where opportunity for three-bin system is not possible due to space constraints Access to AWT for the processing of residual Strong commitment and resourcing for community education is critical to minimise contamination and ensure maximum recovery of dry recyclables through dry recyclables bin. Domestic resource recovery rate 50-55% ( Note: assumes 55% recovery by AWT of the material in the residual bin) Two bin system with residual disposed of to landfill Rural and smaller regional towns where householders have ready access to alternative methods of organics disposal such as local drop off centres. High proportion of multi-unit dwellings No access to residual AWT and organics composting facilities Contamination management and education of householders is important to minimise contamination and ensure maximum recovery through the dry recyclables bin and alternative organics services. Domestic resource recovery rate 20-40% # Estimated Recovery Rates are based on a combination of existing performance data as reported by councils and assumptions as listed in the table where few councils currently have the listed services across their whole Local Government area. * Alternate system for dry recyclables is 2 X 120 litre mobile bins for paper/cardboard and containers 10 11

7 Published by: Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet 59 Goulburn Street, Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 Phone: (02) (switchboard) Fax: (02) TTY: (02) Website: ISBN OEH 2011/0933 Published November 2011