In 2018 Council - and the public - learnt that Australian processors of kerbside recyclable materials (including glass, plastics, paper and cardboard) were sending much of this material overseas.

China's need for recyclable material to feed a massive manufacturing industry had meant sending Australian kerbside recyclables to China was more financially viable than processing recyclables here. Because Australia relied on China to accept these materials, local opportunities to process recyclables declined.

But China began to experience its own problems with the recyclables it was receiving from other countries and the Chinese Government sought to address this with a new environmental policy called National Sword/Blue Sky.

The new policy meant that China would no longer accept foreign waste that was poorly sorted and "dirty". Australia was affected by the new policy.

This has created a massive challenge for the Australian recycling industry. Over the past 18 months this has seen stockpiling of material, a shutdown of processing plants, toxic fires and recyclable materials being sent to landfill.

For Councils and the public, there was little information being provided about the end uses of Australian recyclable material.

The way we collect recyclables in Warrnambool contributes to the problem.

We now know that combining or co-mingling our glass, paper, plastics, metals and cardboard into one bin creates a combination of materials that the recycling industry views as being "cross-contaminated".

To separate the materials is more costly for processors and has resulted in more recyclable material being sent to landfill.

Other states in Australia have Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) in place which means that recyclable items such as drink containers have a monetary value to the consumer which provides an incentive for people to "do the right thing" and take this item to a recycling facility where they are paid for the containers.

In Warrnambool - and Victoria generally - if we are to avoid our recyclables ending up in landfill or in stockpiles, and if we are to provide the best opportunity for local processing and re-use, we need to overcome what the recycling industry tells us is the cross-contamination of our recyclable materials.

One of the ways in which we can do this is to separate recyclables within our households.

We can do this by having a separate bin for paper and cardboard and a separate bin for glass and metals (processors can separate metal and glass using magnets).

Having two separate recycling bins (for a total of four bins) has advantages and disadvantages and is one of several options available to residents.

Learn more about the options by clicking on the link to the right. This opens a document which explains the options.

Once you have read the document, please have your say by completing the survey below.

The survey will close on Monday, August 26, 2019.