URALLA will act as a guinea pig for the North West region, with the town being the first to open a recycling centre allowing residents to dispose of hazards such as fire extinguishers, paint and car batteries.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The latest addition to the Uralla Landfill and Community Recycling Centre is yet to be officially opened, but it is already allowing residents to dispose of household waste deemed too hazardous to go into landfill.
Uralla Shire Council’s waste and resource recovery manager Katherine Little said the centre was a coup for the town.
“Uralla really is a tester for the region,” Ms Little said.
“It stops [hazardous rubbish] going into the waste stream.”
The centre was commissioned after the NSW Environmental Protection Agency decided to make it easier for residents to dispose of items such as paint, gas bottles and motor oils.
Ms Little said while Uralla didn’t have a particularly bad track record with the proper disposal of these items, the new centre means residents don’t have to wait for the twice-yearly “chemical clean up” collection days.
“We don’t have the data, but we did know our shire is very, very good at recycling household batteries,” she said.
“People here are hanging on to them until chemical clean up day.”
Now, residents will be able to dump hazardous materials six days a week for free.
Thanks to an allocation of $106,140 by the Environmental Protection Agency under its Waste Less Recycle More initiative, the cost is minimal to Council.
The Uralla centre will be the first in the New England North West Region to open officially on June 22, with similar facilities in Tamworth, Armidale and Glen Innes to follow shortly.
