FOR the second time this year, recycling from the Kingston municipality has had to be diverted to landfill.
Kingston’s recycling service provider SKM shut its doors last week, leaving over 30 councils statewide scrambling for ways to save their recycling from ending up in landfill.
Around 30 tonnes of Kingston’s recycling was sent to landfill before an interim arrangement was made by council to have their recycling processed by an alternate provider, Polytrade.
Kingston mayor Georgina Oxley said “it is extremely disappointing that Kingston, and many other local councils across Melbourne, has been impacted for the second time this year by the temporary shutdown of recycling contractor SKM.”
“Kingston Council has responded quickly to the current shutdown and has arranged for an alternative recycling facility, to accept half of Friday’s recycling and all of our recycling for processing as of this week. As a result, we have minimised the amount of material to go to landfill, to a total of 30 tonnes,” she said.
“While this is not a permanent solution and we wait to see what the outcome will be for SKM, I am glad that we have been able to arrange for the bulk of Kingston’s recycling to be processed during this time.
“I look forward to hearing an announcement from the state government about how they will use the waste levies they have collected, to ensure the continuity of the recycling industry in Victoria.”
Cr Oxley urged residents to “continue to put out their recycling bin with confidence that their efforts to sort their recycling material is not wasted”.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 31 July 2019