Welcome to the March edition of the HOW newsletter

Hello everyone,

In this edition, find out about upcoming recycling reforms and how drain covers are raising awareness about the impacts of litter. Be inspired to start preserving and empowered to embrace the repair movement with visibly mended garments.

Bin it better – are you recycling correctly?

When the wrong thing goes in the wrong bin, the bin is considered contaminated. While most of us are pretty good at sorting our rubbish from our recycling, there has been a recent increase in recycling bin contamination.

The main contaminants have been soft plastics and bagged recyclables.

Please ensure that you empty your recyclables into your recycling bin loose and that soft plastics are kept out. 

Soft plastics can be dropped off at most major supermarkets for recycling instead (see REDCycle.net.au) or placed in your garbage (landfill) bin.

FREE TerraCycle recycling programs

Just because you can’t recycle something via your recycling bin at home, doesn’t mean it can’t be recycled.

TerraCycle offers free recycling programs, funded by conscientious companies, for many hard to recycle types of waste, such as contact lenses, toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes.

'Recycling Victoria – A New Economy' plan

The Victorian Government recently released ‘Recycling Victoria – A New Economy’, a 10 year policy and action plan for waste and recycling in Victoria.

It outlines reforms to establish a recycling system that Victorians can rely on. It aims to transform how our economy uses materials and how our state reuses, repairs and recycles. The key components of the plan are:

• kerbside reform
• stronger recycling oversight
• new rules to cut waste
• waste to energy
• high-risk hazardous waste management
• reducing business waste
• investment in priority infrastructure
• providing support for local communities and councils
• behaviour change

Specialty recycling hub

Council’s soft plastic recycler is no longer accepting our soft plastics, as they are already receiving sufficient quantities.

This means residents can no longer drop off soft plastics at the Frankston Civic Centre specialty recycling hub.

Most major supermarkets accept small amounts of soft plastics for recycling.

Alternatively, soft plastics can be placed in your garbage bin, to be landfilled.

You can reduce the amount of soft plastics you need to dispose of by:

• Avoiding the purchase of goods with unnecessary packaging 
• Remembering to take your reusable bags when you go shopping
• Buying package-free fruit and vegetables and using reusable produce bags 
• Purchasing package free food in reusable bags or containers

Bin it or swim in it – stormwater drains are just for rain

Stormwater drains enable rainwater to flow from our streets to local waterways and the bay, preventing streets from flooding.

Litter dropped in the streets can be blown or washed into stormwater drains, and flow into our bay.

Council is trialing six stormwater drain lids installed with ‘Drains to the Bay’ and ‘Bin it or Swim in it’ educational messages (see attached) to reinforce the importance of disposing of rubbish in the bin.

Keep an eye out for the drain lids in the city centre and at Olivers Hill car park.

Visible mending

Visible mending is an easy, fun and creative way to keep old clothes out of landfill. It also challenges the throwaway culture and fast fashion, with menders wearing their mends as a badge of honour for others to admire.

Visible mending can repair holes, address fraying or camouflage stubborn stains that won’t wash out. You don’t have to be a professional seamstress or tailor to visibly mend with style.

From patches and darning to Japanese Boro mending, there are lots of visible mending techniques to choose from and online tutorials available to get you started.

Preserving basics

“Because food is so important to survival, humans came up with many different ways to preserve it to make it last as long as possible” (Love Food Hate Waste New Zealand, 2020).

Preserving is a great way to use up surplus home grown fruits or vegetables or give new life to wilting vegetables left in the fridge.

There are several techniques available, such as stewing, bottling, freezing, drying, pickling or turning fresh food into jams.

Give preserving a try this autumn or check out some new recipes to add to your collection.

Food waste and climate change – what you can do

When food decomposes in landfill (anaerobic conditions), it releases methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

You can reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by reducing food waste and feeding your food scraps to your compost bin, worm farm or food and garden waste bin.

Food and garden waste collected via your lime green lidded food and garden waste bin is transformed into compost for Aussie farmers.

To order a food and garden waste bin, call 1300 322 322.

FRRRC – the local drop-off location for garden waste

If you have more garden waste than you can compost or fit in your garden (and food) waste bin at home, you may like to drop the excess off to the Frankston Regional Recycling and Recovery Centre (FRRRC) – charges apply.

FRRRC receives about 96 tonnes of garden waste every week – that’s 5000 tonnes per year!

From FRRRC, the garden waste is transported to a Cleanaway facility, where it is sorted, screened and shredded. It is then moved on to Gippsland Water’s Soil and Organic Recycling Facility, where it is blended and used to produce REVIVE Recycled Compost. This compost is distributed to farmers, primarily those in the dairy industry.

Detox your Home results

On Saturday 1 February, Council partnered with Sustainability Victoria to host a free Detox your Home household chemical drop-off service at the Frankston Regional Recycling and Recovery Centre (FRRRC).

A staggering 5.9 tonnes of household chemicals from 306 households was collected and will be safely disposed and diverted from landfill.

Removing toxic chemicals from homes reduces the risk of poisoning, environmental pollution and bushfire hazards from stockpiling or inappropriately disposing household chemicals. It also increases the recycling of these products.

For those who missed the Skye event, the next nearby Detox your Home event will be held in the City of Dandenong on Saturday 13 June 2020.

Environmental sustainability grant opportunity

Are you part of a local community group or organisation that would like to undertake an environmental or sustainability project? You may be eligible for a Council Environmental Sustainability Grant.

Grants up to $1000 are available for projects that educate and engage the community to achieve one or more of the following:

• Protect and enhance natural assets
• Wise use of natural resources
• Minimise environmental impacts

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