Recycling question? Ask the Garbage Guru

City of Sydney has created a self help website to get household recycling rates above 70%. Its star is the Garbage Guru. He knows the answers to all those questions that, if unanswered, result in containers ending up in landfill rather than recycling bins.

Why does City of Sydney need to do this?

More than 20,000 tonnes of rubbish are diverted from landfill annually in the City of Sydney, meaning the atmosphere is spared about 24,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from harmful methane gases – the equivalent of taking more than 5,000 cars off the road.

On average, each City resident produces about 329kg of household waste each year, all of which is collected and taken directly to a waste-treatment facility where any remaining recyclables are recovered and organic materials processed to produce low-grade compost.

How does the Garbage Guru increase recycling rates?

More than a thousand searchable items have been entered into the Garbage Guru’s memory banks, based on email and phone inquiries to the city over the past two years. He is able to provide the answers to what to do with all of these after use.
 
“City of Sydney residents are already doing a great job, recycling more than two-thirds of their household waste. But we know that we can do even better and the Garbage Guru app is just another way we can push recycling rates even higher,” Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, stated.
 
“The site, and other City projects such as the reverse vending machines for beverage containers, seek to increase recycling, reduce waste and protect our wildlife and environment from plastic and other pollution.”
  
“The site is part of the City’s push to help educate and inform residents to make better waste decisions in a fun, accessible way,” the City’s resource recovery manager, Kath McLaughlin, added.
 
“People who use the Garbage Guru will find out how to get rid of their waste in the most sustainable and convenient way. We want to print less and reduce paper waste, so that’s another reason why we are looking forward to introducing residents to the Garbage Guru.”
 
Here is a test run example of how useful the Garbage Guru will be:

Search word: plastic bag

Answer: “Coles, Woolworths and other supermarkets have recycling bins at the front of their stores for plastic bags and soft plastic packaging.”
 
Inquirers are also invited to send a message to the City’s waste services team for a direct response, in case the Garbage Guru doesn’t recognise the search term.
 
Serious inquiries not already logged will be added to the guru’s database.
 
How do you ask for the Garbage Guru's help? Click here