A big thumbs up has gone out to Parkes residents for their continued efforts in correctly separating their waste into the three bins.
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Parks Shire Council conducted its latest waste audit in March this year.
And the results showed a significant decrease in the contamination of recycling and compostables since the introduction of the three bin system in the Parkes Shire in April 2016.
Parkes Shire Council's Director Planning and Environment, Seven Campbell was pleased with the results.
“Contamination of the Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin is only 1.1 per cent, while the yellow lid recycling bin recorded a contamination level of just five per cent,” he said.
“This indicates that locals are making concerted efforts to ensure that they are correctly disposing of recyclables and organic matter into the correct bins.”
While progress has been made in reducing the contamination of the yellow and green lid bins, Mr Campbell said there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the general waste bin (red lid).
"Changing to a fortnightly collection has been a huge success,” he said.
“The red lid bins [are being] filled to 80 per cent of their capacity on average.
“However, the results showed that contamination of the red lid bin remains very high.”
Mr Campbell said compostable matter was making up 53 per cent of the overall composition of the general waste bin and recyclables totalling 23 per cent.
Parkes residents are being encouraged to be mindful when disposing of food scraps and recyclables.
Mr Campbell said organic matter can be processed into mulch.
And recycled material processed and manufactured into new products when separated into the correct bin.
The aim of the audit was to identify opportunities for diversion and to identify where Parkes Shire residents can improve.
A total of 220 residences were sampled as part of the audit.
The three bin kerbside collection system was introduced at Bogan Gate, Parkes, Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore, as part of Council's Waste Management Strategy to recover more recyclables and organic material from entering the landfill stream.
To find out what goes in what bin, check out the Parkes Waste Services Guide.