Northwest Recycling and Resource Recovery Bin Checks
Published on 23 October 2025
The North West Resource Recovery and Recycling team have commenced another round of kerbside bin checks across the region that will continue through to early December. There are 7 Council areas that now have the 3-bin system and it’s important that everyone is kept up to date on how to use their bins correctly.
Kerbside bin contamination happens when the material that is put into the recycling or FOGO bins cannot be processed. This can happen in many ways and for many reasons, but unfortunately when only a few households are not sorting their waste properly, this can mean the time and efforts of many households have been wasted. Contaminated recycling and FOGO can’t be processed and, if it’s really bad, the entire load collected by that truck will end up going to landfill. What a waste!
Not only that, some things pose a real danger for the truck drivers and plant operators, so using the system correctly means we are keeping them safe too.
To give our region the best chance at diverting waste away from landfill, North West Resource Recovery and Recycling are sending out a team of locals to see what’s going into the kerbside bins. This will enable them to provide assistance and education to those who want to do the right thing, but just need a little help getting there.
Dulverton CEO, Veronica Schilling, says the most common contamination seen in the FOGO and recycling bins is soft plastics and bin liners. “Even the biodegradable bin liners are not approved for use by our facility due to nature of chemical that exist in this type of material, and the risk this poses to our farmers and home gardeners using the compost. The businesses who buy our compost use it to grow food for animals and people. Nobody wants to be eating food that has been grown in these chemicals.”
“And it’s the same for the recycling bins, at the moment soft plastic does not belong in any kerbside bin other than the landfill one. The industry continues to work on a solution to soft plastic waste, but for now, in our region, the only place it can go is landfill;” explains the passionate CEO.
If you see the team out and about, give them a wave and feel free to ask them any waste related questions you might need the answer to. They are happy to help you out wherever they can, but if they can’t answer your question, they’ll point you in the right direction to find one.
To find out what can and can’t go into your recycling or FOGO bin visit www.nwrrr.com.au or download the Recycle Mate app to get advice on all your local recycling options.
For questions about using the service, please get in touch with the NWRRR hotline at hello@nwrrr.com.au or (03) 6427 4646.
When: From October through early December 2025. These checks occur twice a year to provide ongoing support.
Who is involved: Checks are happening in the council areas of Central Coast, Devonport, Kentish, Latrobe, Burnie, Waratah Wynyard, and Circular Head