Sunday drive to the tip.

It was impossible to find an accurate figure as to how many households in Australia do not have a waste collection service. Given we live within  40kms of a major regional centre and are one of the no collection households, there must be quite a few. The kerbside service that extends up this way ends when the asphalt roads turn to gravel. We cannot have dirty rubbish trucks now can we?

It is imperative we clear our waste materials. Luckily we have a refuse transfer centre about 10kms away. However, with a load of stinking household scraps and waste, brewed in the heat of summer, infested with fly maggots, the journey is not for the faint hearted.

I have given up trying to squeeze the smelly trash into the car, the smell is unbearable so I hoist this onto the roof of the car. I usually do this every two weeks. My journey has to coincide with when I am not working (I am a shift worker), and  one of the three days a week when the transfer centre is open.

The volume of municipal waste generated per person in Australia (606kg) is more than that generated in Canada (411kg), Germany (555kg), and England (574kg). However, Australia generates less municipal waste per person than the United States (927kg). Souce Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006/7

We recycle nearly every thing we can. Therefore the greatest volume of material going to the refuse transfer station or what us Australians call the tip is made up of recyclable material.

The recyclables are jammed into the car.

All green waste we generate including weeds, tree branches, some paper, is composted or used as mulch.  The tip does have an area for green waste but we have enough space to not need it. Plus all organic matter we can return to the earth is vital to improve the quality of our acidic clay soil.

The refuse transfer centre in all its glory. The yellow bin is for recyclables, the area on the left is for waste metals and tyres. The green building houses a large open container for general waste.A truck comes from the regional city centre every week to replace the bins with fresh ones and remove the full bins.

The green waste section. This is tilled into a mulch which is free to remove. However we do not use it anymore as it was full of weed seed.  

Putting the rubbish out is a relatively time consuming household chore but there is one main benefit. It is not often I do not come home with something useful that someone else has discarded.Anything that is being discarded that could be of use to someone else is generally placed next to the bin. Nothing of value remains long. 

Not much to write home about this time but some large planter and some firewood for next winter.