A contractor has been appointed to carry out surveys of the contents of Ararat Rural City Council's residential bins.
Council is working with Australian sustainability, waste and resource recovery consultancy EC Sustainable to conduct the survey. The bin surveys of randomly selected households are due to commence in July and August this year and will include:
- A visual survey of bins presented, such as volume used and condition of the bins.
- Collection of bin contents in the contractor's truck on the normal waste collection day.
- Sorting of bin contents at a waste facility into types of recycling accepted now as well as opportunities for the future.
- Disposal or recycling as usual.
The survey results will assist Council to further improve waste services such as bin systems, programs and education to increase recycling and reduce waste to landfill.
"This initiative provides valuable insights that will guide us in streamlining improvements to our waste services," said Dr Tim Harrison, CEO of Ararat Rural City Council. "By working together as a community, we can significantly boost recycling rates and reduce landfill waste across the municipality.
To ensure an accurate representation of residents' waste segregation and disposal behaviours, households will be randomly selected across the municipality. Collection for selected households will take place from the kerbside on the usual bin collection days. No additional action from residents is required.
Council and EC Sustainable collect the information for use in this study only. The information collected will be treated as private and confidential. The information collected is analysed and reported in an aggregated form.
