Program bags roadside recycling

A new pilot program will allow a Port Hedland community group to recycle roadside litter.

Through the new Clean Communities program, local community group Care For Hedland Environmental Association will use new, brightly coloured bags to separate recyclable items from collected roadside litter.

Funded by Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Account, Clean Communities in partnership with the Keep Australia Beautiful Council WA enables source separation of the roadside waste Care For Hedland collects as part of its regular Adopt-A-Spot roadside collections, and provides the opportunity to divert recyclables from the local landfill.

The Clean Community program will provide collection bags consistent with Australian Standard bin colours: yellow for recycling, green for green waste and red for general waste.

Care For Hedland Environmental Association chairwoman Kelly Howlett said the association was proud to be taking part in Clean Communities.

“To be the only northern regional community group to be taking part in the program is an honour,” she said.

“During each event, it has also been interesting for us to weigh our separated recyclables and again it provides us with a further opportunity to explore what is being thrown out along our roadways and to come up with strategies on how we might tackle roadside littering in our community”

The environmental association has used the new brightly coloured bags as part of its two most recent Adopt-A-Spot Port-South Hedland Road clean-ups. In February and March, a total of 98.1kg was collected and placed in 37 red clean-up bags.

The recyclable items collected in the yellow bags are recycled by toxfree in Wedgefield, while the Town of Port Hedland collects the filled red waste bags for the association after each collection event.

For further information on Care For Hedland’s programs, contact Ms Howlett on 0439 941 431 or kellyhowlett35@hotmail.com.