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Organics recycling infrastructure
In 1990, very few councils offered collection and recycling services for organic materials, such as garden organics. Now, approximately 70 licensed composting facilities exist across the state and more than 60 per cent councils in NSW offer regular kerbside organics collections. The composting industry has experienced rapid growth in the last decade, forming an important part of the infrastructure built in NSW by councils and the commercial sector to help recycle organic materials.
The majority of these purpose built facilities are outdoor windrow composting operations, located mainly on the fringe of the Sydney Metropolitan Area, and in country areas. These facilities shred organic materials, place them in long piles and turn them with equipment to enable the breakdown of the organic matter into a soil-like product.
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Collection and recycling services
Collection and recycling services are available to householders and businesses generating organic materials. Many councils offer kerbside collection services for garden organics, kerbside chipping and annual clean ups. Some councils and facilities offer drop off locations where garden organics and wood/timber can be taken for recycling.
As of 2010, more than 60 per cent of councils in NSW operated a regular kerbside collection service for garden organics, with some offering expanded services, such as combined garden and food organics collections. Many of these collections are based on a container, such as a dedicated 240 litre wheelie bin.
Wood/timber from building and construction activities tends to be collected by waste companies. Clean uncontaminated wood may be separated for re-use, or chipped up into a variety of landscape mulch products or used as an alternative fuel.
Recycling of food organics is relatively new in NSW, and facilities are being built to divert more of this material from landfill.
Biosolids, the solid organic residue from sewage treatment plants is also recycled by a small number of composting facilities. This material is a high nutrient input into the composting process, producing a range of value-added soil and gardening products.
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