Bin Tagging Guidelines for South Australian Councils (2014)

South Australians are great recyclers and deserve thanks for their efforts. However, there are still some Council areas that report high levels of contamination in kerbside recycling bins. This appears to be primarily due to a lack of understanding of what can go into each bin, rather than a lack of care. We therefore continue working closely with residents and Councils to establish a better understanding of recycling. Recycle Right® is the most comprehensive state-wide household recycling education programme in Australia. It was developed to help householders improve the way they use their bins at home, and it has become a valuable and widely-used educational programme. It includes an impressive list of tools such as press advertising, a user-friendly online search engine, a 1300 hotline, fact sheets, and resources for schools, calendars, a training programme for local government staff and elected members, and a growing use of social media. And now we are introducing bin tagging as an additional component of Recycle Right® that promises to be one of the most successful behaviour change programmes. Bin tagging trials have shown impressive changes in the way participants recycle, including a reduction of up to 66% in the number of contaminated recycling bins, and increased recycling rates of up to 43% after just six recycling collections. The programme is effective because South Australians care and are enthusiastic recyclers. It is another way people can get information about recycling correctly, and trials have shown that people respond positively when a problem is pointed out to them after a simple inspection of their bins. It’s no wonder, therefore, that more and more Councils, in both metropolitan and regional areas, are showing an interest in bin tagging and looking for guidance and support to introduce the programme in their area. These guidelines have been designed specifically to support Councils to run bin tagging programmes in their areas. Our partnership with local government and the community have been key to achieving the great results we have seen waste reduction in South Australia. Today, there are 685,000 households in metropolitan and regional South Australia using the three-bin system. Recycling has doubled in the last 10 years in metropolitan areas – from 24% in 2003 to 50% - and more than tripled in regional areas – from 11% in 2003 to 36%. I am confident that bin tagging will be another innovative, well-targeted and successful programme to help us achieve even better results in recycling and diversion from landfill.