By JESSE GRAHAM
A PERMANENT site to drop off paints, light-bulbs and batteries in Coldstream will help to deter would-be rubbish dumpers, according to a Yarra Ranges Council executive officer.
A new Detox site at Coldstream Waste Transfer Station opened on Wednesday 1 July, offering a permanent area where residents can drop off paint, household batteries and compact fluorescent light-bulbs.
In a visit to the site on Tuesday 7 July, Yarra Ranges Council waste management executive officer Graham Brew said the drop off would help residents to dispose of materials that were previously costly to bring in.
“Paints aren’t cheap to get rid of,” he said.
“It’s a dollar per litre, (but) if you walk in with a four-litre tin with only one litre of paint in it, they’re not going to open it and measure it.
“But now you can drop it off for free.”
The council said it had advocated to Sustainability Victoria for the site, one of 30 across the state that are being funded by the Victorian EPA Landfill Levy.
Both Mr Brew and Knox Transfer Station general manager Garry Higgs said the no-cost drop-off would help to deter would-be dumpers.
Mr Higgs said that people often hid paint tins in their other rubbish when taking items to transfer stations, creating more work for employees who either had to clean spilt paint or sort it out before reaching landfill sites, due to its chemical content.
“Paint and tyres, because they have to pay extra for those, that is always the common thing you find dumped around the back,” he said.
“That (the free drop-off point) eliminates a lot of that problem.”
Mr Brew said that, with the other closest site in Monash, it would service a wide catchment area.
“What SV (Sustainability Victoria) tried to do is capture a catchment at a central point – for Yarra Ranges, it’s here.”
“We’ll have a lot of people coming from Maroondah.”
Yarra Ranges mayor Maria McCarthy praised the initiative while visiting the waste transfer station last week.
“It’s a great idea, a great service, a great initiative and I’m really pleased that these gentlemen, this company provides this service to our residents free of charge,” she said.
Solvents, poisons, cleaning products, car care products and fertiliser are not collected at the Detox site, but can be disposed of at the council’s annual mobile Detox Your Home collection on Saturday 29 August.
Residents must register for the mobile service at www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/detoxyourhome or by calling 1300 363 744.
The permanent Detox drop-off service is only offered at the Coldstream Waste Transfer Station, and is only available to residents – businesses will still have to pay to dispose of their materials.
