A new recycling facility is expected to steer about 80 per cent of construction site waste in Albury and surrounding areas away from landfill within six years.
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The Albury Material Recovery Facility, opened on Thursday, February 22, will not take junk from people's backyards, but be a dumping point for construction companies.
Its initial target is to increase recovery of waste from 15 per cent to 60 per cent.
But the facility at Hamilton Valley is not a magic bullet for Albury's worsening waste tyre crisis, the latest case being an industrial site next to the city's airport. The owner of that site has until the end of March to get rid of nearly 30,000 tyres.
Albury Council resource recovery team leader Andrea Baldwin said: "This facility doesn't do tyres.
"What's happening there is that they've gone out to tender and I think they've got somebody who's actually going to be appointed to shred them and move them off.
"The council does accept small amounts of tyres from residents but those are collected and go down to Melbourne to be recycled, get turned into floor bases, that sort of thing."
The facility will employ 13 people and operate as part of the Albury Waste Management Centre, which also services Wodonga, Federation, Indigo, Greater Hume and Towong LGAs.
The new section is jointly funded by Albury Council and the NSW government under a NSW Environment Protection Authority grants program.
EPA executive director of programs and innovation Alex Geddes said the project was part of a drive to change people's habits.
"We really have to shift from that make, take and dispose model that we're all very familiar with and embrace a way of thinking where we reuse, repair, repurpose and recycle," Ms Geddes said.
"If we look at the construction industry in NSW, over 2.3 million tonnes of construction waste is sent to landfill every year, a level of waste that we know we can't sustain.
"And this is why this facility opening today is so important. From bricks to timber, metal to concrete and hard plastics, it won't just service the people and businesses of Albury, it will take material from 18 local council areas."
The $8.6 million plant has been designed to receive, sort and prepare recyclable materials from the building sector.
Albury Council deputy mayor Steve Bowen said more than 20,000 tonnes of demolition waste will be diverted away from landfill.
He said the project supported the region's ambition of reducing waste to landfill as part of the Halve Waste Initiative, which aims to achieve an 80 per cent diversion of material from landfill by 2030.
"It will cost construction companies no more money than it already does to get rid of that waste, that's one of the benefits of this facility," Cr Bowen said.
Albury MP Justin Clancy said waste management was a key issue for the city and the region.
"This facility has something like 36,000 tonnes of construction demolition material, of which it is currently harvesting 15 per cent," Mr Clancy said.
"We take that through to being able to ... extract somewhere between 60 per cent to 80 per cent of potentially 20,000 tonnes - that is an extraordinary feat."
