What happens to our waste?

Reports sometimes appear in the media that recyclable material does not necessarily end up being recycled, but goes to landfill instead. 

Kerbside recyclable material collected by Solo Resource Recovery in West Torrens is sent to recycling company Visy, which processes recyclables for millions of households, schools and businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

In South Australia Visy receives more than 69,000 tons of recyclables from homes in metropolitan and rural areas each year and recovers around 80 per cent for recycling. The company is continually looking at ways to improve this volume by the introduction of new technology at its Wingfield Material Recovery Facility (MRF) site.

To keep waste disposal costs down and to promote the circular economy, you are encouraged to keep recycling and to put only recyclable materials in your recycling bin. Your recycling efforts are not going to waste! Find out more about VISY's resource recovery processes.

The hard waste collection service focuses on: 

• resource recovery, mainly by recycling, and

• diverting material from landfill where possible due to the cost of landfilling.  Some items are banned from landfill eg whitegoods, TVs, computer monitors and household appliances.

Our collection contractor uses different waste collection vehicles depending on whether the materials collected will be sent for recycling or reprocessing.

Items that are recycled

e-waste

E-waste (anything with a battery or a power cord) is sent to a local e-waste recycler for disassembly and ultimate recycling of the various component materials. E-waste contains non-renewable resources and some items contain hazardous materials which is why this material is banned from landfill. Around 95 per cent of the materials used to make these products can be recycled!

Mattresses 

Mattresses are stripped to recover the metal springs for reprocessing.

Wood and metal

These materials are sorted mechanically at Solo Resource Recovery. The wood removed is recycled through Peats Soil and Garden Supplies. Metal removed is sent to Sims Metals.

The good news is that a significant quantity of hard waste collected can be recycled!

Electronic Recycling Australia dismantles the items to separate the various components for reprocessing into new products. Components include glass, plastics, iron, steel, tin, nickel, aluminium and copper, and precious metals such as gold, platinum and silver.

Around 90 per cent of what is used to make televisions and computers can be recycled.

Hazardous materials, such as lead, cadmium, phosphorous and mercury, can be captured safely.

Recycling e-waste reduces our need to mine for new materials and the potential for hazardous substances to be released into the environment.