DOUGLAS Shire Council hopes a community survey will help lift the lid on ways to improve its wheelie bin service.
Residents, businesses and visitors have been asked to complete a kerbside waste and recycling survey before August 23.
Douglas Shire Council Mayor Julia Leu encouraged people to fill out the survey.
“Council wants these survey results to gauge the level of public satisfaction with our kerbside service,” she said.
“The survey features questions relating to bin sizes, bin days or how often the waste trucks come to your area.”
Council also want to see if ratepayers would use a green waste pick-up service.
Survey respondents will have an opportunity to win one of three $50 fuel voucher.
Button TextTargeted surveys have been sent to larger multi-unit and commercial properties, and smaller general surveys will be available for all residents, small commercial properties and visitors to Douglas Shire.
Council’s kerbside recycling material is all sent to the Cairns Material Recycling Facility at Portsmith, where it is sorted into the various recyclable stream such as aluminium, ferrous metal, different types of plastics, paper/cardboard and glass.
The commodities, except glass, are then baled and sold to various buyers for use in manufacturing recycled products.
Glass is processed and transformed into a glass sand for use in construction projects such as footpaths and as bedding sand.
Council bales it’s cardboard and sells it directly to a buyer.
RECYCLING FACTS:
Recycling bins are collected for residential households on a fortnightly basis within Council’s kerbside collection service area. The following items should be rinsed (where applicable) and placed in your recycling bin:
- Plastic bottles and containers (e.g. soft drink and water bottles, margarine and butter tubs, buckets and plant pots, takeaway containers.)
- Glass bottles and containers (e.g. alcohol and soft drink bottles, jars, sauce bottles and glass medicine bottles.)
- Paper and cardboard (e.g. juice cartons, wrapping paper, egg cartons, magazines and newspapers.)
- Steel and aluminium (e.g. aerosol cans, aluminium and steel food cans, drink cans.)
When you place your recycling bin kerbside, the recyclable items are taken to the Materials Recovery Facility in Cairns. Items are sorted and separated into plastics, paper, steel, aluminium, glass and non-recyclables (contaminants).
GENERAL WASTE BINS
Material from the general waste bins (currently green or red lidded) is bulk transported to the SUEZ – Cairns Advanced Recovery Facility in Portsmith, where the material is sorted and undergoes aerobic composting to produce a low-grade soil conditioner for farm usage.
Contaminants from both processes such as plastic bags, nappies and any materials that can’t be recycled or are not organic are transported to landfills on the tablelands.
