Recycling Week
Published on 08 November 2018
National Recycling Week is from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 November 2018. It's a good time to reflect on all the ways the City of Hobart is assisting the community to minimise waste, in line with the goal of zero waste to landfill by 2030.
Recycling while you swim
This September saw the launch of a new waste management system at the Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre (DKHAC). These changes included the café transitioning to certified compostable takeaway packaging and the introduction of an organic waste stream. The changes will lift the centre’s recovery rate from approximately 30% to 60%. 
This process was a year in the making, beginning with a waste stream analysis and a review of café packaging in 2017. From these enquiries the project team learnt that a significant portion of the DKHAC waste stream was organic material and saw the potential to substitute some café packaging with compostable alternatives.
Empowering the community to tackle waste reduction
The City of Hobart has recently awarded funding to six exciting new projects through the 
2018 Waste Reduction Grants Program. Some of the imaginative projects supported include feasibility studies around options for disposing of kitty litter, a schools program where students will make beeswax wraps as an alternative to single-use plastic and a program to reduce waste at University of Tasmania student accommodation.
The Recycling Unit is a hit
Hobartians have embraced the opportunity to recycle unusual items! The Recycling Unit located in the City of Hobart Customer Service Centre (on the corner of Elizabeth and Davey
Streets) was initially in place as a trial but is now a permanent fixture. From x-rays and mobile phones to beauty product packing and e-waste, there’s a surprisingly broad range of difficult-to-recycle items now being diverted from landfill thanks to this initiative.
The City’s Waste Management Strategy 2015-2030 aims to achieve zero waste to the Hobart Landfill by 2030 through over 90 actions across a range of areas such as organic waste, education and litter.
To learn more about the new waste system, visit the Towards Zero Waste to Landfill page.