Lower Hunter Councils Go Green

The Lower Hunter is going green, with the rollout of a kerbside collection service for household garden organics.

Cessnock, Maitland and Singleton councils are joining together to offer the service, in addition to general waste and recycling.

“It’s something that people in the three areas have been asking about for such a long time so next month it’s going to be a reality,” said Maitland Mayor Peter Blackmore.

60-thousand bins are being distributed, and the councils hope the initiative will significantly reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

Organics collection will begin on Monday, March 6 and the garden organics will be processed by Australian Native Landscapes. Managing Director Patrick Soars said it was a wonderful new contract for ANL and is a major expansion in the company’s organics recycling capacity in the Hunter. “Regional councils are where the action is in the organics sector at the moment and this has been a really positive move for us on top of our Netwaste contract last year”. In April 2016 ANL began processing garden organics or food and garden organics for Bathurst, Forbes, Parkes and Blue Mountains councils, all part of the Netwaste group of councils.