Tag Archives: environment

How much of Glenorchy’s plastic is recycled? (part 3)

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I asked at the January 25 open council meeting if Council would provide me with information about the nature of the statistical report they receive now and then from Cleanaway.

Here is the complete response.

“you asked, which was “what is the nature of the report Council receives from the recycling facility Cleanaway” we committed to seek permission to provide you with the headings of the report, so you have an insight into the nature of the report.  Cleanaway agreed to providing this information to you.

This report has commercial in confidence information which we do not have permission to publicly release.  Council sought permission to provide the topics that are reported on, so you have an insight to the nature of the report.

The report content is:

Council Monthly Tonnes In
Commercial Tonnes In
Total Tonnes In
Council Monthly Tonnes In – Percentages
Commercial Monthly Tonnes In – Percentages
Glass Out
Waste Out
Cardboard In/Out
Commodities Out
Standard Reporting
Incident Report”

Email received 6 Feb 2025 3:16pm

The brevity of this response begs more questions than it answers. In the faint hope of further clarification I propose to ask these questions as “questions on notice”..

  • When the word “in” appears, where is the measured material going from and where is it going to?
  • When the word “out” appears, where is the measured material going from and where is it going to?
  • What is the definition of “commodities” in the context of the report?
  • Does Council have any data relating specifically to reuse of plastics recovered by Cleanaway at its MRF? If so, can you describe it’s nature?
  • Does Council have any data relating to reuse of any materials whatsoever recovered by Cleanaway at its MRF? If so, can you describe it’s nature?

I sent the questions on Feb 6 and look forward to Council’s response?

How much of Glenorchy’s plastic is recycled? (part 2)

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I’ve written before about wanting to know whether I should bother to put plastic into my yellow bin. I finally learnt on October 24 (use this link) that

“Cleanaway recovered during the 2024 financial year 1,208 tonnes of rigid plastics (HDPE, PET, PP).”

This response was intensely disappointing because (a) it provided no statistics relating to Glenorchy. and (b) it only referred to plastic that had been “recovered”.

In plain English, “Recover means to separate the wanted stuff from the unwanted stuff”. So I still have no idea how much of that “recovered” plastic has been put to a new use.

So I’ve tried a different approach. I asked, during public question time, at the January 25 open council meeting if Council would provide me with information about the nature of the statistical report they receive now and then from Cleanaway. In other words, what were the statistics that Council received?

I was told that Council would ask Cleanaway for permission to do that. It certainly appears that Cleanaway is under no obligation to provide the public any data whatsoever about how successful they are in having their “recovered” plastics reused.

I look forward to Council’s (i.e. Cleanaway’s) response.