Former general manager Margaret Clarke (pictured) had vision in spades when 30 years ago she founded the recycling service and gave a valuable employment outlet to people with disabilities. It has transformed countless lives for the better, a true measure of success.

Mrs Clarke should be commended for her years of dedication, as she moves to a new chapter of her life. We have little doubt that her replacement, Sonya White, will build on this firm foundation. 

But it comes at a challenging time for the recycling industry.

On the local front, the council is building a state-of-the-art re-use centre, including a recycling facility, at its landfill. How will this tie in with Endeavour’s enterprise? Chairman Geoff Kettle hopes people headed to the tip will still drop off material at Endeavour’s depot.

Nationally, China’s ban on receiving imported recyclables from Australia is biting. We are madly scouting for new markets. Councils are facing a tripling in recycling costs if they can’t get on top of the problem.

It calls for not only a coordinated effort but innovation. In this area there is great opportunity through the newly gazetted Canberra Region Joint Organisation of Councils, of which Goulburn Mulwaree is a member, to target markets and lobby government for more funding assistance.

The State Government is already helping NSW councils with $47 million in the wake of China’s pullout.

Materials like glass can be recycled into road base but the closest such facility is in Melbourne. Distance makes this unaffordable for many NSW councils but working with private enterprise may find a better solution.

This is the type of innovation councils must exercise in the current environment. They must avoid taking the easy option of diverting recyclables to landfill. That would undermine public confidence and the great strides we’ve made in raising consciousness.

Technology is advancing at the rate of knots and we must seize every opportunity.

Meantime, we all have a role to play. Contamination of recycling bins is still too high in Goulburn. Endeavour took 426 tonnes of residual waste to the tip in January purely because people couldn’t do the right thing.

Despite countless campaigns, the message is not getting through. It’s time we got our act together on a number of fronts.