Bales of recycled waste are stacked higher than the fences at the ACT's biggest recycling facility, but the territory government says there's no cause for alarm, denying the facility is being overrun.
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It is unclear how much recycling waste is stockpiled at the ACT Materials Recovery Facility in Hume. A spokesperson for the ACT government's city services directorate would not provide figures when asked how much rubbish was at the site and how it compared with usual levels.
However, the spokesperson said the continual flow of material at the facility, which received about 126,000 tonnes of recycling each year, incentivised plant operator Re Group to ensure stockpiling was limited.
Responding to questions from The Canberra Times on behalf of Re Group, the spokesperson denied China's crackdown on imports of foreign garbage was having a big impact on the facility. Less than 5 per cent of the material it received was shipped to Asian markets.
"[Re Group] advises that around 40 per cent of material processed for recycling at the Hume facility remains in the local ACT economy," the spokesperson said.
"The bulk of this is glass that is converted to sand that is used in local projects, as well as the unaccepted material that is disposed to the local landfill."
The spokesperson said a further 50 per cent of the material processed was paper and cardboard, which was sent across the NSW border to a paper mill in Tumut. The remaining 10 per cent was sold to "a variety of end users", including those in Asia, based on market demand.
"The dominant markets for PET and HDPE plastic are in NSW," the spokesperson said.
"Aluminium is also generally sold to Australian facilities. There are currently limited markets in Australia for mixed plastic products, although this is a small part of the overall material recovered at the Hume Materials Recovery Facility."
The plant got an $8 million upgrade last year, allowing it to break down glass into sand and generate cleaner recycling material.
The city services directorate spokesperson said ReGroup reported having a "very low" recycling contamination rate in Hume compared with other Australia facilities.
The spokesperson said Canberrans were generally good recyclers, but about 20 per cent of materials were still put in the wrong bins.
"The message to ACT residents is to continue to put only recyclable material in yellow-lidded recycling bins, and in particular ensuring they do not put recyclable material in plastic bags," the spokesperson said.
