RECYCLING bins for businesses in Monash would drastically reduce the amount of recyclable matter going to landfills, East Yarra Province MP Richard Dalla-Riva said.
Monash’s 11,000 workplaces employed more than 90,000 people, yet businesses were not permitted to acquire a council-owned recycling bin, he said.
“I’m not talking about rubbish collected from operating the business, but rather thousands of employees of businesses who may be purchasing or bringing recyclable material each day.
“For example, at the moment, a soft drink purchased for lunch would be disposed of in the ordinary rubbish collection, and that is unacceptable.
“What this means is tonnes of recycling material is thrown out with ordinary rubbish. This creates an unnecessary addition to the massive landfill in many local council rubbish tips.”
Clayton Traders president Neil Rickard said that while some businesses recycled as much as possible, it took a lot of extra effort.
“We recycle everything – we take bottles home to go out through the normal household recycling bins; we take a boot load of cardboard to the council-owned recycling tip at the end of Clayton Road.
“If businesses want to make an effort they can do it.
“But if recycling bins were supplied I believe a lot more businesses would take it up.
“I’m convinced more recycling would happen if it was available.”
Mr. Rickard said it would significantly reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfills.
“From my own business’s point of view, the amount of cardboard and paper that is discarded is a huge amount compared to what goes out at home.”
At the time of going to print, Monash Council had not replied to the Journal’s request for an interview.
