What we do at the MRF:
Household recyclables from your yellow lidded wheelie bin are delivered to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) which is operated by Impact Community Services, under a program established to provide employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities.
The household recyclables are sorted and baled into the following categories:
- Paper / Cardboard
- Milk bottles
- Soft drink bottles
- Clear glass / coloured glass
- Steel / Aluminium
- Shrink Wrap
Contamination
Contamination of the domestic recycling stream is a significant drawback to the efficient and safe operation of the MRF
| Item/contaminate |
Issue/concerns |
| Plastic bags |
Plastic bags block and tangle machinery as well as concealing recyclables |
| Garden waste / soils |
Green waste and soil contaminate materials such as paper and glass |
| Medical waste, syringes and nappies |
These items pose health risks to MRF staff |
| Food and other putrescible waste |
Food wastes contaminate paper products making them unrecyclable |
| Oil, chemical and other liquid wastes |
These contaminate paper and cardboard products as well as posing health risks to MRF staff |
| E-Waste(Electronic Waste / Small Appliances) |
These items are not recycled via the MRF process. Electronic waste can be taken to Council’s Waste Facilities for recycling - free of charge |
Any non-recyclable waste in the domestic recycling stream increases sorting costs and decreases the efficiency of the recycling process.
Want to learn more?
If you would like to learn more about our Material Recovery Facility attend one of our Waste and Recycling tours that are available to school and community groups
Processing recyclables at the MRF.
Conveyor belts
Recycling emptied onto load conveyor belts. Material travels up the belts to the first work station.
Pre-sort station
This is the first step in the recycling separating process and where the contamination items are removed.
Conveyor belts/trommel
Trommel is a large rotating cylinder that sorts recyclable items by size
Containers and bottles (glass, plastic, aluminium) fall through bigger holes to travel up to the sort line
Paper and cardboard come out the end onto the paper sort belt
Steel is removed by a big magnet at the end of the trommel and drops into a storage cage for crushing
Paper sort belt
Bottles, plastic and other waste are removed from this belt when items pass by
Paper and cardboard then fall down a chute onto an incline feed conveyor to the baler
Sort line
Plastic, glass and aluminium is sorted by hand into various categories into big storage cages
Glass silos
Glass is removed by hand via the sort line and travels outside to the glass storage silos
Bales of processed recycling: