A huge amount of what people are throwing in their recycle bins is rubbish and unable to be recycled, according to Endeavour Industries manager Sonya White.

“Needles are our biggest injury risk and these can be disposed of by the users at special collection bin at the Base Hospital,” she said.

“But our concern is much wider than that: household rubbish, sanitary pads, condoms, nappies, paint tins containing paint, old electrical appliances, clothing, food stuffs, even a casserole dish still containing a putrid stinking meat dish.

“These are all things from the yellow recycling only bins picked up by the bin collectors in the last week.

“Not only does it cost us to dump these contaminants at the council waste collection facility, but all this contaminated rubbish has to be sorted by hand and can injure our workers some of whom are disabled, but they are all people who deserve respect.”

Some of the contaminated waste can also damage the machinery, which is another cost the service can ill afford to meet.

Over the Christmas period there was an increase in the amount of material delivered to Endeavour Industries Sinclair Street recycling depot.

Fortunately there was not a lot of rubbish dumped at the depot over the Christmas closure period. “We are thankful to the public for generally being considerate during our shut-down,” Mrs White said.

“There has been a backlog of sorting and stockpiling of material waiting to go to buyers over the Christmas period because the buyers have been on holidays too.

“At present because of the overseas markets for recycled plastics and metal there have also been a slowdown in clearance from our depot.

“The market has been quite volatile and some things that in the past were recyclable as there was a market are no longer saleable.”

Many people would be unaware that green glass and window glass cannot be recycled at present.

The plastic food containers from takeaway stores, coloured plastic containers, Tupperware, drink and milk boxes containing aluminium foil, aerosol cans and lids of bottles and jars are also rubbish at present; as are the multi-use plastic bags from the supermarkets.

Shredded office paper must be bagged, not just poured into the recycle bin. Preferably it should be dropped off to the staff at 67 Oxley Street, Goulburn or at the Sinclair Street recycling centre.

Otherwise for a small fee the shredding expert at Oxley Street can do the security shredding for you. This is a premium product that if collected in the recycle truck will end up as rubbish. (as can be seen in the photo.)

Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up here.