The City of Greater Bendigo inspects about 100 bins per week and has found that some households are incorrectly placing plastic meat containers, dog food tins and garden waste in general bins.

The main contaminants in recycling bins include polystyrene, soft plastics and recyclable items placed inside plastic bags. Soft plastics include food packaging that can be scrunched into a ball.

For the new organic bins, council is continuing to find plastic bottles, food packaging and organics waste wrapped in plastic bags, rather than the green caddy liners.

Council resource, recovery and education manager Brooke Pearce said the audits take place two to three times per week.

“The City respects the privacy of the community and the audit is a visual inspection only. On average we audit about 100 bins each week,” she said.

“Sometimes an area is audited because our truck drivers have noticed contamination in the bins as they are emptied into the trucks.

“Our audit staff can often be shocked at the level of contamination from some properties. 

“If during an audit we do notice that the wrong things have been placed in the wrong bins our staff will leave a tag on the bin saying what they noticed in the bin and send a letter informing the resident of the importance of sorting waste properly.”

The council also places a ‘special tag’ on bins that have been well sorted.

Victorian households generate over 11 million tonnes of waste each year, with 70 per cent diverted away from landfill.