- This topic has 3 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by .
-
Topic
-
Hi flat chat,
With the NSW container recycling scheme now operating an interesting circumstance has appeared with bins being raided by anyone looking for a fast buck. Given that bins are on common property well within the property boundary bin raiders are effectively trespassing to recover containers.
Have the knowledgeable flat chat people come across this before? Is there a way to protect both residents and their waste from trespassing bin raiders?
-
Replies
-
We’ve also experienced this at our scheme (once) recently. A committee member spotted someone unfamiliar going through the yellow bins, asked if he was a guest of anyone resident here and he said “no I am just doing a community service and recycling properly”. The committee member politely explained he should not be here, a security matter, families with small children, past breakins/theft etc etc. Even offered for him to finish what he was doing, just this once. He left the place in a tidy state and hasn’t been back (that we’ve seen). Though I expect many other bin raiders wouldn’t.
My concern about this (besides the obvious ones mentioned) is that kerbside recycling is in a crisis in Australia as recycled materials are not competitive with imported new cheap materials. If kerbside recyclers can’t realize a revenue stream, either consumers will pay the shortfall to keep them operating (higher council rates or supermarket shelf prices), or the lot will go to landfill. Currently, kerbside recyclers can collect the deposit on eligible containers they collect from kerbside recycling. If raiders pick out the eligible containers and cash in, the recycler is left with lower value materials and consumers/ratepayers will make up the difference. So “I am just doing a community service and recycling properly” is shown to be a sham — the stuff was going to be recycled anyway (and will probably end up at the same place) and all that’s happened is that ratepayers’ money is jingling around in the raider’s pocket.
It has been contentious in the media of late as to whether recycled can and bottle bin contents are actually recycled – or just dumped in landfill.
With a recycling depot/shed nearby at the local Coles, schoolchildren have been raiding bins in my street to claim their 10c on each item.
I don’t see any problem with this, as long as they put anything they don’t want back in the recycled bin. I don’t see this as any different from the bi-annual general clean up where people throw out unwanted bicycles, couches etc. and anyone passing is free to help themselves.
I dream of “good fairy raiders” who would help my neighbours “recycle properly” by removing all the non-recyclable junk they toss in the recycling bins! 🙂
I also dream of neighbours who could refrain from disposing of their bottles in the recycling bins (mere metres from my windows) at midnight! But that’s a different topic…