The Resource Recovery Group (RRG, formerly Southern Metropolitan Regional Council), has been engaged to implement a bin tagging program on behalf of the City of Fremantle commencing February 2023.
The purpose of the bin tagging program is to help educate residents on how to sort waste and provides individual feedback via bin tags and cards in letterboxes. RRG Waste Education Officers will make a visual inspection of the contents of the general waste and recycling bin. Individual feedback via bin tags with a smiling or sad face will be placed on the bin depending on how correctly you have sorted the contents of your bins.
Why is the program being undertaken?
Recycling is a shared responsibility and everyone needs to work together to ensure the right thing is put in the right bin and send less waste and recycling to landfill and reduce processing and disposal costs.
What do they look for when they inspect the bins?
RRG Community Waste Education Officers make a visual assessment of the contents of the bin:
- contamination
- a general overview of how each property is sorting its waste
- identifying correctly used but overflowing recycling bins
- identifying correctly used but overflowing FOGO bins
- identifying correctly used but overflowing general waste bins.
Bin taggers do not remove anything from bins.
What kind of feedback will I receive?
The tags are designed with happy and sad faces to indicate whether the bins are being used correctly or incorrectly with details of which items were placed in the wrong bin and how to put the right thing in the right bin for next time.
What prizes are on offer?
In 2023, two areas will be tagged. Residents within these locations have the opportunity to be rewarded. At the end of the program, prizes will be issues for most improved and overall bin tagging champion.
If you would like to increase your chances of receiving smiley faces on your bin, please read the feedback tags placed on your bin during the visual inspections.
What information is recorded and how is it used?
- Details of the types and levels of contamination in each bin.
- Results are reported on a community level, rather than individual properties.
- Results determine what items and what bins require further promotion and education to correct behaviour and inform the residents.
- Properties identified with repeatedly overflowing general waste bins will be passed onto the City’s Waste Education Officer to contact and offer information on waste minimisation.
- In extreme cases, the service may be removed.
What happens if households keep putting the wrong things in the bin?
The program focuses on education rather than enforcement however if repeated high-level contamination is identified after several visits to a property, the bin is taped shut to alert the collection driver not to empty it.
In the small number of these cases, this has occurred, the City of Fremantle Waste Education Officer contacts the resident to resolve the contamination issue.
How are the areas selected for the program?
Areas are selected at random.
Is bin tagging COVID safe?
The bin tagging process does not pose an increased risk of transmission of COVID-19 to staff or residents. All Community Waste Education Officers wear appropriate PPE and sanitise regularly. If there is a ‘stay at home Direction’ from Government, the bin tagging program will be postponed until restrictions are eased. If you are concerned about the transmission of COVID-19 please wash hands after you take the bin in/out and do not place tissues in the recycling bin.
Will the bin tagging process increase rates?
No. The City has secured grant funding to assist with the bin tagging from the West Australian Local Government Association, and Waste Authority. In fact, if contamination reduces by everyone putting the right thing in the right bin, it’ll save the City money with reduced processing and disposal fees.
