Yellow Top Bins Coming Soon

South Burnett Regional Council will launch a six-month awareness campaign in October to ensure its kerbside recycling program is as well-understood as possible (Photo: JJ Richards)

September 15, 2022

All South Burnett households and businesses which receive a weekly waste collection service will be getting a new, yellow-topped bin in December as the region gears up for the introduction of kerbside recycling.

The yellow lid bin – to collect recyclable waste – will join the existing general waste bin which has a red lid.

The general waste collection service will continue to operate on a weekly basis but the yellow top bins will be collected fortnightly.

The decision to introduce kerbside recycling was made as part of this year’s Council Budget deliberations, and will start on January 2.

Households will pay an extra $66.64 per year for the service but pensioners will receive a 50 per cent discount.

The SBRC hopes the new service will divert as much as 3000 tonnes of waste from landfill each year.

This will extend the life of local tips and reduce the impact of the State Government’s Waste Levy.

Waste collected in the yellow top bins will be processed by Cherbourg’s Materials Recycling Facility, creating local jobs.

Both the red and yellow top bins will continue to be collected by Council’s waste collection contractor, JJ Richards.

To help ensure the service can operate as effectively as possible, the SBRC will roll out a three-month education and awareness campaign from October.

This campaign will include social media posts, pop-up displays, community outreach activities and presentations to local schools.

After the service begins, the SBRC will also audit waste collections to identify any barriers or major contaminants affecting the recycling stream.

They will then raise awareness about these in a second campaign that will run from January to March.

As part of these education campaigns, the Council also hopes to develop a mobile phone app.

This will allow residents to identify their bin day; get bin night alerts; find out what should go in which bin; learn more about recycling alternatives available in the region; and submit any inquiry related to waste management (such as a missed bin service, replacement of a bin, new bin service, cancellation of a bin service etc) directly to Council via their phone.

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