Wagga Wagga City Council has announced a new partnership with Big Bag Recovery, which will allow big bags to be collected at all of its waste management facilities. Photo: Wagga Wagga City Council.
Wagga Wagga City Council has taken recycling to a new level after announcing it will now accept big bags at all of the LGA’s waste management centres.
As part of a partnership with Big Bag Recovery, bags that carry bulk products and ingredients such as fertiliser, seeds, animal feed, flour, salt, sand, sugar, mulch and cement will now be able to be returned to a waste management centre and recycled.
The program is part of a mandatory national scheme for packaging, with brand owners now required to design more sustainable packaging to increase recycling and reduce litter.
Brands that have partnered with Big Bags Recovery include Bundaberg, Elders, Four’N Twenty, Nutrien, Vitasoy and Remedy.
The council’s resource recovery facilities manager Andrea Baldwin said the big bags would be taken away and turned into new products.
“Used big bags can be dropped off at collection points at our waste management centres in the Wagga Wagga LGA, where they will be collected by Big Bag Recovery,” Ms Baldwin said.
“They will then be turned into items like seating for schools, floating covers for reservoirs to prevent evaporation, and sound abatement structures.”
Big Bag Recovery is the only Australian Government-accredited product stewardship scheme for plastic bags with more than 15 kg/l of contents (sacks and bulk bags).
The program only applies to recyclable bags that are woven polypropylene (wPP) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE).
So far, more than 8 million kilograms of plastic have been recovered through the scheme.
“There are many benefits to participating in this scheme: it reduces landfill, prevents plastic entering the environment, reduces emissions and creates jobs,” Ms Baldwin said.
Wagga Wagga LGA collection points for the bags are at the Gregadoo Waste Management Centre and the Rural Transfer Stations at Collingullie, Currawarna, Galore, Tarcutta, Humula, Uranquinty and Mangoplah.
To learn more about the scheme, recycling and the benefits, and the bag brands accepted, visit the Big Bag Recovery website here.
