Festive season recycling soars

Novocastrians are increasingly doing the right thing after residents made the most of Newcastle City Council's free holiday-season recycling offer.

Almost 500 residents dropped off a whopping 20 tonnes of household recyclables free of charge at the Summerhill Waste Management Centre between 17 December and 8 January.

This compares to 4.09 tonnes from 126 customers during last year's period of free recycling at Summerhill.

"Wrapping paper, cardboard boxes and empty bottles pile up sky high at many households over the Christmas period," Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.

"And it's gratifying to know more and more residents are heeding the message to do the right thing for the environment and our kids and recycle more.

"Almost five times as many Newcastle residents as last year took advantage of the offer to drop off recyclables for free, and not coincidentally, our waste management centre received five times more under this year's scheme.

"That waste could potentially have gone to landfill after being disposed of in ways other than the yellow council wheelie bins, so the importance of recycling is really striking a chord with our community."

Council's holiday period recycling offer for households supports its regular waste/recyclables collections during the festive season.

Summerhill's weekend and public holiday opening hours were also extended to reduce waiting times for all customers over the holidays.

Summerhill's normal fees of $51 a tonne for separated recyclables and $112 a tonne for mixed recyclables still applied for commercial customers and non-residents.

These fees resumed for all from Monday 9 January.

Customers bringing mixed recycling loads to Summerhill are asked to keep cardboard separate from other recyclables to assist with sorting on-site.

Newcastle residents are reminded that Clean Up Australia Day will be held right across the country on Sunday 5 March and will be followed by another Household Chemical Cleanout at Tighes Hill TAFE on Saturday 1 April.