Albury City Council, Cleanaway and the Environmental Protection Agency joined together in a Waste Less, Recycle More campaign to remind residents to correctly dispose of dangerous materials. 

Albury City’s waste management team leader Andrea Baldwin said hazardous waste placed in yellow, red or green-lidded bins could serious harm people transferring or processing waste material. 

“It’s easy to dump these items in the bin and forget about them but the reality is that people working with your bins could be seriously injured or even killed if the bins contain dangerous materials,” Ms Baldwin said.

“We ask people to think before they bin it – and to remember that these dangerous goods can instead be delivered for free to our Community Recycling Centre at the Albury Waste Management Centre.”

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Cleanaway driver Glen Smith said careless disposal of this type of waste presented a very real risk.

He said items such as paints, batteries and fluorescent tubes and globes contain poisons or acids that can hurt people, animals or the environment, while gas bottles and oils present a serious risk of fire or explosion.

“When we collect and sort through household recycling and organics bins we’re vulnerable to burns or poisoning from substances such as acid, mercury or lead if the wrong items are placed in those bins,” he said.

“But that risk can be eliminated by people doing the right thing at the disposal point.”

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