{"id":835644,"date":"2026-07-31T12:53:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835644\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T12:53:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:53:35","slug":"bin-contamination-costs-nw-tasmania-700k-burnie-acts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835644\/","title":{"rendered":"Bin contamination costs NW Tasmania $700k, Burnie acts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Misplaced waste has cost the North West region more than $700,000 in the past year with a new system to make repeat offenders ineligible for kerbside bin pick-up. <\/p>\n

From July one households in Burnie with kerbside bin collection will be part of a formalised four strike process and on the fourth strike could have their collection cut off.<\/p>\n

A regional bin check program was delivered over 16 weeks during the 2025-26 financial year by The Cradle Coast Waste Services.<\/p>\n

The report found a small portion of households -00.66% \u2013 repeatedly contaminated bins across the region. <\/p>\n

During the bin check program 32 properties in the North West region received three strikes and 11 received four strikes as of May 2026. <\/p>\n

13 households within the Burnie City municipality received 3 strikes and two households were on strike 4. <\/p>\n

The data indicated that in most cases improvement in sorting occurred after the second tagging. <\/p>\n

The report said Kerbside recycling and FOGO bin contamination presented \u201ca significant risk and cost challenge for processors, from both a quality and safety perspective\u201d. <\/p>\n

Depending on the type and quantity of contamination, it can lead to whole truckloads of materials deemed for recycling ending up in landfill. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis means the time and efforts of many households have been wasted because of the actions of a few,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n

The new system is designed to \u201cstrengthen the existing program by providing a clear and consistent process to address ongoing contamination\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n

A motion passed unanimously at the Burnie City Council meeting on July 28 which noted the outcomes of the bin check program, and the implementation of the contamination strike system. <\/p>\n

Councillor Ken Dorsey had a simple message: \u201cJust get it right, it saves a lot of money,\u201d he said in the meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust sort your rubbish, it\u2019s not hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Trent Aitken questioned whether customers would still be charged after receiving the fourth strike, and whether that was legal. <\/p>\n

Through the Mayor the general manager said yes, the customer would be charged, and he understood that it was legal. <\/p>\n

Mr Aitken said he was still not on board with food and organic waste collection. The motion noting the implementation of the strike system passed unanimously. <\/p>\n

Burnie Mayor Teeny Brumby took to social media following the vote and said Burnie wasn\u2019t introducing its own rule, but acknowledging how existing systems are implemented.<\/p>\n

She said contamination has \u201creal consequences\u201d including increasing processing costs and reducing the environmental benefits to the service. <\/p>\n

Ms Brumby said using the FOGO and recycling service correctly saved the region approximately $737,000 in landfill levy costs, including around $128,000 for Burnie in just nine months.<\/p>\n

elise.kaine@news.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Misplaced waste has cost the North West region more than $700,000 in the past year with a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[407566,407615,72756,26137,407573,407586,407598,407604,407582,391002,407578,376730,390030,407614,407596,407624,407597,407619,407579,407574,64,63,207647,14828,407613,91755,407585,60587,2467,407576,407600,51521,75,407609,407571,407562,407622,42930,62479,407599,407595,407593,407626,407611,407592,407618,95404,407606,407608,1449,304604,407584,187,391540,381628,407617,407589,407591,367025,407605,6622,407572,78615,309149,3810,317406,128,1314,407607,407563,407567,407561,407610,407587,407594,407603,400617,378293,407583,407569,407601,407570,407602,407577,390026,377267,378709,407568,407564,407588,390512,377064,388083,407623,399647,407612,407580,407590,407616,407621,407581,144035,39,407620,407575,407565,407625],"class_list":["post-835644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-700k-waste-bill","tag-00-66","tag-72756","tag-26137","tag-13-households","tag-16-weeks","tag-3-strikes","tag-32-properties","tag-a-clear-and-consistent-process","tag-a-few","tag-a-formalised-four-strike-process","tag-a-lot","tag-a-motion","tag-a-new-system","tag-a-significant-risk-and-cost-challenge","tag-a-simple-message","tag-a-small-fraction","tag-a-small-portion","tag-approximately-737","tag-around-128","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bins","tag-board","tag-both-a-quality-and-safety-perspective","tag-burnie","tag-burnie-mayor-teeny-brumby","tag-contamination","tag-council","tag-councillor-ken-dorsey","tag-councillor-trent-aitken","tag-customers","tag-environment","tag-existing-systems","tag-fogo-bin-contamination","tag-food-and-organic-waste-collection","tag-four-strikes","tag-households","tag-improvement","tag-its-own-rule","tag-july-28","tag-july-one-households","tag-kerbside-bin-collection","tag-kerbside-bin-pick-up","tag-kerbside-collection","tag-kerbside-recycling","tag-landfill","tag-landfill-levy-costs","tag-many-households","tag-materials","tag-may-2026","tag-misplaced-waste","tag-money","tag-more-than-700","tag-most-cases","tag-mr-aitken","tag-ms-brumby","tag-new-four-strike-rule","tag-offenders","tag-ongoing-contamination","tag-part","tag-processing-costs","tag-processors","tag-real-consequences","tag-recycling","tag-repeat-offenders","tag-science","tag-social-media","tag-strike-4","tag-the-2025-26-financial-year","tag-the-actions","tag-the-bin-check-program","tag-the-burnie-city-council-meeting","tag-the-burnie-city-municipality","tag-the-contamination-strike-system","tag-the-cradle-coast-waste-services-the-report","tag-the-customer","tag-the-data","tag-the-environmental-benefits","tag-the-existing-program","tag-the-fogo-and-recycling-service","tag-the-fourth-strike","tag-the-general-manager","tag-the-implementation","tag-the-mayor","tag-the-meeting","tag-the-motion","tag-the-new-system","tag-the-north-west-region","tag-the-outcomes","tag-the-past-year","tag-the-region","tag-the-report","tag-the-second-tagging","tag-the-service","tag-the-strike-system","tag-the-time-and-efforts","tag-the-type-and-quantity","tag-the-vote","tag-the-worst-bin-offenders","tag-their-collection-cut-off-a-regional-bin-check-program","tag-three-strikes","tag-top-stories","tag-two-households","tag-whole-truckloads","tag-your-bin-service","tag-your-rubbish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}