LAKE Macquarie residents are proudly green, and now we know they're clean, too.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Data collected from the first six months of the council's green waste service shows a contamination rate of less than 0.5 per cent.
That means that Lake Macquarie residents, almost without exception, are filling their green bins with precisely the green waste they were intended for.
"Our research suggests that it is the best result any council has had anywhere," Lake Macquarie City Council's city strategy manager Tony Farrell said.
"We put it down to the commitment of our residents."
Mr Farrell said the pleasing result was perhaps not surprising given the city's green credentials.
Landcare and bush regeneration projects are historically well backed, and last year the city topped the state in the uptake of Climate Change Fund rebates.
Critics of the green waste scheme highlighted the $313,000 the council spent in advertising how to use the bins.
But the low contamination rate suggested it had been money well spent, Mr Farrell said.
"In the long run we thought we'd get a payback, and that's proven to be the case," he said.
For every tonne of green waste delivered to the green waste facility at Awaba, the council saves more than $100 in fees, he said.
Since the start of the green waste scheme on April 1, 1300 truckloads had delivered 7722 tonnes of green waste to the facility.
Mayor Jodie Harrison congratulated locals on their commitment to the service.
"Thanks to the residents of Lake Macquarie, the green waste service has already saved 32,175 cubic metres - which is the equivalent of more than 12 Olympic-size swimming pools - of garden waste from going to landfill," she said.
The scheme was extending the lifespan of the tip, and delivering significant environmental benefits, she said.
Instead of going to landfill, the garden waste is processed into mulch and compost for use on parks, gardens and in agriculture.
