PLASTIC bags have been dumped from the list of accepted recyclable materials at Northaven.
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The move comes after a lack of demand from China forced one of the last plants in the region to discontinue – putting more pressure on our local landfill.
“We just haven’t got a market for it now,” Northaven General Manager Tess Pomfrett told The Times.
“The plastic bags are not as bad for the environment now that they break down.”
Northaven plant manager Carl Irwin said without a solid market, recycling the bags was a waste of money.
“The market comes and goes depending on the Chinese market,” he said.
The bags, which are often used as road base in bitumen, become unusable over time if they are not recycled.
“At the moment they’re just not paying for it and the cost for us to put it through, bale it and leave it sitting there is a waste – it just breaks down and becomes unusable,” Mr Irwin said.
“We’ve been trying to get rid of what we have here now for well over 12 months and just can’t get rid of it.”
And it’s not just Inverell – Tamworth, Armidale and Glen Innes have also dumped the initiative.
“We’ve probably stuck with it the longest out of everyone,” Mr Irwin said.
“Tamworth must have been out of it for five years now.”
But the plant, which employs people living with a disability, does still accept clear plastic like shrink wrap and averages around 1482 tonnes of cardboard per year.
“People think we make a lot of money out of cardboard but it virtually just covers the wages,” Mr Irwin said.
But plastic bag recycling isn’t just a local issue.
In Australia, plastic bag bans exist in South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT but NSW, Queensland and Victoria remain in a deadlock.
Even third-world countries have taken a stand.
Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have banned single use plastic bags completely.
So too have Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda and Somalia.
And of the five billion plastic bags used by Australians every year, it is believed about 150 million end up as litter.
“We should be embarrassed. It’s a disgrace,” Clean Up Australia managing director Terrie-Ann Johnson told Fairfax Media last year.
Mr Irwin said recycling centres such as Northaven also struggle with unrecyclable items sneaking through due to a lack of understanding in the community.
“We have a real problem with people trying to recycle hosing and electrical items,” he said.
“It basically just stops the machines from working and it’s a real issue here.”