Council’s Bin Tagging Program

Did you know that approximately 20% of what’s in our general waste bins at home is recyclable through the yellow lid recycling bin? Instead of being recovered for reuse these items end up in landfill.

General Waste

The contents of general waste bins are delivered to the Advanced Resource Recovery Facility (ARRF) in Cairns for sorting & processing: https://www.anz.veolia.com/our-facilities/sorting-recycling-facilities/cairns-resource-recovery-centre.

Recycling

The contents of recycling bins from Douglas Shire are delivered to the Materials Recovery Facility in Cairns. Items are then transported to specialised recycling facilities for processing into new materials. Our recycling bins have a contamination rate of approximately 8%. While this is slightly below the national average, we need to do what we can to reduce contamination to save on costs and recover as many resources as possible. More information, and virtual tours of these facilities, can be found here:https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/water-waste-roads/waste-and-recycling/what-happens-to-my-waste.

Bin Tagging

The Queensland Government is funding a small-scale Bin Tagging Program for Douglas Shire to increase residential recycling volumes and reduce contamination in household recycling bins.

The bin tagging program will be undertaken throughout the Shire in November and December 2024.

The program will involve inspectors doing a visual inspection of bins presented for servicing and attaching a bin tag. A green tag will be attached if the contents of the bin is acceptable, an orange tag if some items are incorrect and a red tag if the bin is too contaminated for collection. Bins with red tags will not be emptied until the contamination is removed.

Prizes to be won

Properties which have a green tag on both bins on their tagging day will automatically go into the draw to win a $100 voucher for one of the local businesses listed below*:

  • $100 Voucher for Mossman Hardware
  • $100 Voucher for Divine Beauty in Mossman
  • $100 Voucher for Nautical Marine Sales Port Douglas
  • $100 Voucher for “With Sugar” in Port Douglas

*Conditions apply.

The purpose of this program is to educate residents on proper bin use to ensure the contents going to the receiving facilities is acceptable, increasing resources and saving processing costs.

Terms and Conditions

Residential bins in pre-selected areas will be inspected by specialised consultants over the term of the Bin Tagging Program. They will allocate tags (green, orange or red) and record data through their app.

All properties with green tags on both bins (waste and recycling) on their recycling day will go into the draw to win one of the $100 vouchers each week. This happens automatically and residents do not need to do any entry forms. Property addresses will be put into an electronic randomiser for selection of the winner. The occupier of the property is the eligible recipient of the voucher. Council will make all reasonable efforts to contact the occupier, if the occupier cannot be contacted within 7 days the prize will be redrawn through the same randomised process.

Winners will be randomly selected each week for the duration of the Bin Tagging Program and the winner will be contacted by Council to claim their voucher.

This program is part of a State Government Funding Agreement and is subject to a funding agreement which dictates the terms of the program.

This initiative is supported by the Queensland Government’s Recycling and Jobs Fund