Millions of Rapid Antigen Tests are in Australia right now and we have been directed by our Government’s to send all the plastic components to landfill.  Some people may have placed the hard plastic cassette into their recycling bin which unfortunately is called ‘wish-cycling’ – hoping or assuming that something will get recycled but these items are simply too small for most recycling centres machinery to cope with (it will fall through the machinery ending up on the floor alongside other materials that are later scooped up and put in landfill.)

Mullum Cares believes Australian’s want more effort made to stop recyclable materials going to landfill and this project is intent on demonstrating this.  We believe that Council’s are being unfairly expected to find solutions to hard to manage waste streams of products made for consumption in residential settings.  If an item can’t be recycled through kerbside recycling services or composted through green bin collection then it should be returned to the place of purchase (or another convenient location) and the cost of recovering the reusable resources in the product born by the manufacturer, retailer and consumer.

 

The people who benefit from the creation of a product should cover the cost of recovering all reusable materials at the end of the products life.