'Free Waste Day' at Resource Recovery Centre

Orange residents can save money and clean up their house at the same time this weekend, when Orange City Council holds its first ‘Free Waste Day’ at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre.

Residents can take one ute or trailer load of waste to the centre on Saturday (May 7), without paying usual waste charges. (Household trailers up to 6‘ by 8’.)

Orange City Council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee chair, Cr Neil Jones said the event is one of two to be held this year.

“Under the new waste contract, there’s no longer any bulky waste collections, so it’s up to residents to explore how to deal with these new arrangements,” Cr Neil Jones said. “For waste that is not recyclable and is too big to fit in a wheelie bin, a day like this is a good idea.

“When it comes to items such as a disused mattress that won’t fit in a red-bin, this Saturday might be a good opportunity to borrow a friend’s trailer or organize a ute to deal with waste like this on a day when the usual charges wont apply.”

“Perhaps it’s something that a group of neighbours could organize together.”

“There’ll be two Free Waste Days this year, and this first event coincides with ‘National Compost Awareness Week’. If residents are taking out a full trailer load of rubbish, why not buy a trailer load of compost and bring it home for the garden.” Compost can be bought for $38.20 per cubic metre.

“The Don’t Waste Our Forests campaign to encourage people not to dump waste in Kinross Forest is also ramping up. I hope people will take advantage of the ‘Free Waste Day’ and choose instead to deliver their waste to the Resource Recovery Centre instead of dumping it illegally in a forest.”

The Free Waste Day will be held at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre on Saturday 7 May, and again later in the year on Saturday 5 November.

To coincide with ‘National Compost Awareness Week’ there’ll also be free tours of the compost–shredding and landfill-baling facilities at the Centre. The tours will be held at 10 am and 2pm on Saturday 7 May.

No bookings are required for the tours. Simply arrive in time and ask for directions for parking at the weighbridge.