The Shire of Augusta Margaret River has released the first report into the adoption of the new 3 bin waste system.
According to a statement released by the Shire last week, residents have managed to dramatically reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Shire Waste Education Officer Jackie Dickson said the results were encouraging, and showed the community's commitment to managing household waste responsibly.
"Before the three-bin service, we were seeing an average of 471 tonnes of waste from the kerbside collection going to landfill each month," Ms Dickson said.
"The introduction of the green FOGO bin and increased recycling services has dropped that number down by half, to 229 tonnes of waste each month which is a great result for such a new service.
"Halving the amount of waste we are sending to landfill from the kerbside collection in just three months is a huge win for our community and will help extend the lifespan of our landfill," she said.
From 1 July to 30 September, Augusta Margaret River Shire residents diverted 57 per cent of waste in the kerbside bins from landfill.
"This is a huge improvement on the 20 per cent of waste that was diverted in the same period last year under the two-bin system."
Halving the amount of waste...in just three months is a huge win for our community.
- Jackie Dickson, Shire Waste Education Officer
Ms Dickson said there was further good news with the findings of an audit report showing a very low contamination rate in the green FOGO bins.
"The Bunbury Harvey Regional Council, who composts the contents of the AMR Shire's organics from FOGO bins at their organics processing facility, released a report detailing a 3 per cent contamination rate in organic waste from the AMR Shire.
"This is excellent for such a new service and shows that the community is doing a great job of using their bins correctly," Ms Dickson said.
"The main forms of contamination are food being left in plastic wrapping and plastic bags, so the Shire would like to remind everyone that only 100 per cent compostable products should be put in the FOGO bin.
"We would like to thank the community for their support of the new service and for taking the extra time to sort their waste correctly."
