The recent holiday season saw a whopping 40 per cent increase in residents utilising Wollongong City Council's recycling drop-offs, with more than 800 people attending three locations between 27 and 30 December.
The addition of soft plastics to this year's collection was especially popular, with residents contributing a combined 814 kilograms — enough to fill more than 100 large wheelie bins.
More than 350 people attended the Corrimal drop-off, while Helensburgh saw more than 280 attendees, and around 230 took advantage of the Berkeley site.
In addition to soft plastics, the collection points took in approximately 5,400 kilograms of cardboard and 2,500 kilograms of mixed household recycling.
Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park also took in double the regular monthly volume of carboard and metal recycling over the holiday period, while the festive season also saw a 10 per cent increase in the domestic waste collected.
The opportunity to dispose of soft plastics was a key theme from community engagement on Council's Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2024-2034 adopted in September last year.
Lord Mayor of Wollongong Councillor Tania Brown was thrilled to see the large take-up of the initiative.
"We've listened to the community on this, and we know that opportunities to responsibly dispose of soft plastics were too few," Councillor Brown said.
"We also know the festive season sees an increase in the volume of soft plastics and other recyclables and our residents want to do the right thing and divert it from their red bin. For others it's a time for an end-of-year clean-up or some DIY to start the New Year fresh, which also generates additional waste.
"We know the community is as committed as we are to reducing landfill and ensuring a greener future for our beautiful region, and I'm thrilled to see so many people take up the opportunity over the holiday period."
Wollongong Council was not alone in adding soft plastics to collection drives, with fellow Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation (ISJO) member councils Kiama, Shellharbour and Shoalhaven implementing collection points over Christmas-New Year, with more events to come.
For those who missed the December dates, or are already working on their next stockpile, our ISJO council partners have upcoming soft plastic collection dates which Wollongong residents are welcome to utilise.
ISJO soft plastic drop-offs:
- Minnamurra Waste Facility
12 February 2025, 8am to 4pm
- Albion Park Oval Carpark
23 February 2025, 9am to 3pm
If you can't make the drop-off dates, it's free to bring household recycling and cardboard (not soft plastics) to the Community Recycling Centre during opening hours. It also accepts problem waste like aerosols, paint, oil, most types of e-waste, and whitegoods that are mostly metal. A small fee applies to recycle fridges, freezers and air conditioners.
The Community Recycling Centre is open every day except Christmas Day.
