Community
21 August, 2024
Start thinking ‘yellow’
CASSOWARY Coast residents are being readied for the start of kerbside recycling next year.
Queensland-based, family-owned company JJ’s Waste and Recycling has taken over the region’s kerbside waste collection.
Mayor Teresa Millwood has inspected the freshly-branded fleet labelled ‘Think Yellow’.
“We’re counting down to the start of our new kerbside recycling collection service which is due to commence in March 2025,” she said.
“Including recycling in general household collections will be a significant milestone in the region’s future of waste and resource recovery management.
“The new system will replace (the) council’s current ‘wet waste’ and ‘dry waste’ disposal to protect our precious environment, bring us in line with neighbouring councils, and meet government targets to reduce waste and increase recycling.”
As part of the new resource recovery and recycling program, the council is partnering with Cairns Regional Council to utilise its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for yellow lidded ‘recycling’ bin content deposits.
Cr Millwood said that meant the council would not need to build its own facility.
“We’ll be tapping into the MRF’s existing global commodity markets to sell our recycled material, offsetting (the) council costs for capital and operational expenditure in delivery of this service,” she said.
JJ’s Waste general manager David Colvin said the firm had recruited local drivers for the current Cassowary Coast kerbside waste service.
“We value the experience of these drivers, and their local knowledge will be invaluable in delivering the new contract with Cassowary Coast Regional Council,” he said.
“Combined with new technology of our in-vehicle system j-Track and customer service Council Portal system we’re gearing up to drive a seamless transition for Cassowary Coast residents.”
JJ’s Waste’s j-Track in-vehicle system provides drivers with alerts if it recognises that a street or segment has been missed. Their council portal allows customer service teams to monitor collection services as they happen.
“As we transition to kerbside recycling in 2025, additional technology will be utilised enabling us to proactively detect possible contamination from non-recyclables in yellow-lidded bins,” Mr Colvin said.
