As another country readies to return Australia's packaged recycling, the city's sorting facilities have begun looking into creative solutions to its waste woes.
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Indonesia has now joined the Philippines and China in sending back container-loads of recyclables following Australia's failure to reduce its contamination rates.
CEO of Wagga's Kurrajong Waste Recycling, Ray Carroll believes this is yet another wake-up call for the nation.
"We have to invest in finding that end use in our own country," Mr Carroll said.
"We can't keep sending it overseas and hoping they will find a use for it when there are plenty of ways we could use it here."
As an example, Mr Carroll pointed out trial operations in Asia where crude-oils have been stripped from plastics to create diesel fuels.
"The Australian government needs to begin encouraging these new ways of using recyclables that don't involve shipping them overseas," Mr Carroll said.
Contracted to the council for its kerbside recycling, Kurrajong is unique around the nation in that its primary operation is to hand-sort containers.
With that in place, Mr Carroll believes the city is already primed and positioned to begin creative waste-use ventures.
Gregadoo Waste Management Facility manager Geoff Pym said that Wagga Council has begun discussions around possible uses for the city's waste.
"[Wagga Council] is monitoring a number of emerging uses for wastes as engineered products," Mr Pym said.
"[The council] has utilised some recycled glass as a surface treatment for dust and weed suppression around [the] sewer pumping stations and at facilities at the landfill."
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Wagga is not alone in promoting these kinds of ventures, as councils around the nation also adopt waste-reuse strategies.
Earlier this year, Lake Macquarie and Central Coast councils partnered to begin substituting sand with crushed glass in civil works programs.
The Hunter-based initiative is expected to reuse up to 12,000 tonnes of glass each year.
The region's manager of planning and sustainability, Alice Howe, explained the collaboration between the councils as a necessary way to fill the program's waste requirement, since the only 5000 tonnes of glass is collected for recycling each year in Lake Macquarie.
Similarly, at the end of May, Central Coast Council began converting plastic bags, bottles and ink toners into roads, using it to seal 260-metres of road as well as installing kerbs, guttering and renewing footpaths.
The Central Coast's director of roads, transport, drainage and waste, Boris Bolgoff explained there trial had a huge propensity to reduce plastic wastes.
"To give you an idea of the quantity of waste that can be saved, a 600-metre section of road can be made using 631,000 plastic bags, 117,000 glass bottles, toner from 14,400 used printer cartridges, and 160 tonnes of reclaimed road asphalt," he said.
Wagga's Mr Pym welcomed the initiative in the hope it will also lead to further experimentation with plastic waste.
"One local council is progressing use of recycled glass in road construction and [Wagga Council] will apply the experience gained in this demonstration in applications within our shire," he said.
"Specifications for road construction are typically based on RMS requirements to ensure sound long term performance of the road surface.
"The EPA have specific requirements for testing of any wastes to ensure protection of the environment from contamination."