Who owns the town’s rubbish? That’s the question buzzing round Glen Innes after a new recycling scheme was introduced.
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Two weeks ago, a “reverse vending machine” was installed in the Woolworths car park – you put bottles and drink cans in and get back ten cents a go. It’s part of a NSW scheme to clean up the state of litter.
The new machine in Glen Innes has created a whole new industry overnight. Enterprising people tour the town scavenging for discarded bottles and cans that can be turned into money.
At the Woolworths machine, there are often queues of people, some with oil drums full of hundreds of bottles and cans. People are driving from far outside town. Children have been spotted in old people’s homes asking for bottles. They tour parks picking up valuable litter – just as the creators of the scheme intended.
But now, there’s a new development: people have been spotted at night taking bottles and cans from council, yellow-lid recycling bins to take to the Woolworths machine where they get money.
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Local business man, Brian Orvad, said: “At dusk the other night, when my dog started to bark at someone in the street, I went to the window and saw outside people going through the yellow-lid bin”.
He wants to know if that is theft?
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The bottles and cans in the council scheme go to Glen Industries which sorts them and sells them to recycling centres. if Glen Industries (which employs disabled people) doesn’t get the material, it can’t sell it on.
Glen Industries did not reply to requests for comment. In the past, its manager, Kylie Hawkins has voiced disquiet about the recycling habits of the town, particularly the occasional practice of putting dog and kangaroo carcasses in recycling bins. Her views on whether the Woolworths “reverse vending machine” threatens Glen Industries’ finances are not known.
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The legal situation is not clear. The situation may be different for which bin they take bottles and cans from. If it’s a an ordinary waste bin, the bottle or can wouldn’t have been recycled so the taker is grabbing what would have been thrown away or destroyed.
But if it’s from a yellow-top recycling bin, does it belong to the council or to the recycle enterprise?
It’s the talk of the town. Maybe lawyers will get involved. Maybe the police. Rubbish generates arguments.