Take a drive around the streets of Australia and you will find almost as many combinations of colours, stickers, hot stamps and sizes as there are Councils in Australia. One thing is certain in waste management - the demands and processes in our garbage, recycling and organics collection systems is changing unpredictably far quicker than bin lids need replacing. How do we provide ratepayers with effective bin lids when we are unsure what the future holds for recycling contents, for example?
Australia has a standard for bin lid colours (AS 4123.7:2006) covering residential and commercial collections:
Garbage/residual waste - Red
Recycling comingled - Yellow
Organics (garden and kitchen) - Lime Green
Food organics - Burgundy
Paper and Cardboard - Blue
As you can see there is some crossover and potential for confusion between residential and commercial norms. Given the length of kerbside contracts, often over 7 years, and the life of MGBs, often between 10 and 20 years, or more, we quickly understand why there is such as mix of lid combinations at the kerbside.
So what can a Council do to improve the effectiveness of its bin lid strategy. Here are 7 tips to use the often overlooked bin lid as a powerful promotional weapon:
Move towards the Australian Standard whenever possible. When whole bins are being replaced at the start of a contract or otherwise, this is the cheapest opportunity. Retrofit changeovers can be done but at much higher cost.
Make sure all bins for each stream have the same colour. For example, organics bins with burgundy or lime green lids will send a confusing message, even if there are other reasons, such as differentiating commercial services. To a lesser extent, use of different shades of green for organics, for example, will compromise educational and promotional messages.
Investigate funding opportunities through state government programs to do bin lid retrofit programs. Many Councils have accessed state government funding to change existing bin lid colours to match an incoming recycling or organics service.
The hot stamp or sticker on the bin is arguably the best educational tool available to direct residents on how to dispose of their waste. Don't put the sticker or hot stamp under the lid as by the time the resident sees it they will be halfway through their throwing motion.
Use hot stamps rather than stickers where possible as they do not disintegrate, fade or require application.
When designing a hot stamp, do so carefully, especially in these changing times. The lid costs are generally being amortised over 5 to 10 years so at least that timeframe should be considered. Develop a stamp that you believe will be 100% applicable for the contract timeframe or longer. Consult with bin manufacturers, other waste operations colleagues and bin users to gain insight into different interpretations on proposed designs. This can be a challenging and drawn out process to get it right.
You may decide that your lid hot stamp could be updated. Between complete bin rollouts or lid changeovers, during day to day contract operations, bin lids of the same colour but with new hot stamps can start to be incorporated for new repair and replacement lids and whole bins. Better to have 5% of the residents with the latest in recycling educational advice than 0% leading up to any new contract or bin rollout.
To date, we have been generally uncreative with hot stamps on bin lids. With frequent changes to recycling and composting in an uncertain world, perhaps it is an opportune time to be more encouraging and less prescriptive with bin lid hot stamps.
See ya next week.
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