There are many materials that cannot be disposed of through normal means due to the hazardous nature of their components.

Items such as used batteries, chemicals, oil, paint, and fluorescent bulbs should not be placed in your domestic garbage bin as they are dangerous to residents, waste collectors and landfill staff. Residents in the Midwaste region can drop off domestic quantities of hazardous materials for FREE at their local waste management facility. Commercial quantiities will incur a fee.

Midwaste have developed and programmed a TV commercial that not only highlights the potential danger of disposing of such materials incorrectly, but explains how and where to correctly dispose of these items.

You can watch the commercial here.

Midwaste continues to carry out several ongoing group contracts, which are briefly outlined below:

Greenwaste processing

Six Midwaste Councils continued with a joint greenwaste processing contract which was introduced in 2005. A new tender was called in June 2008 with the successful tenderer commencing their 3year contract in July 2008.

Scrap metal collection

Tenders for scrap metal collection are undertaken annually, given the volatility of metals prices. One Steel were successful winning the contract for 2008/09 and provided metals collection services for four member Councils (Great Lakes, Port Macquarie Hastings, Nambucca and Kempsey) during this period.

Tenders were called during June/July 2009 and a new contract is due to be signed in August 2009 for scrap metal collection across the four member Councils involved in this collective tender process.

Hazardous materials collection

During the 2006/2007 period the existing Hazardous Materials Collection and Disposal contract (which 7 Midwaste member Councils were a part of) was terminated due to inconsistent collections (the contracting company folded). An interim collection was carried out and then documents were prepared and advertised in August 2007.

Transpacific Industries were subsequently appointed to a 3year contract and provide the collection of hazardous materials to seven of the member councils

This project evolved into a ‘Trilogy of Illegal Dumping’ with the production of 3 ads addressing illegal dumping in a variety of contexts. The three ads are 30second long, addressing:

• Dumping in a bushland setting. View here
• Dumping in a town environment (household waste going into public litter bins). View here
• Dumping of greenwaste i n suburban settings. View here

All the local Councils within the Midwaste region were involved in the project, which was conducted in collaboration with a number of other land managers including the Department of Lands, Forests NSW and the Department of Environment and Climate Change (National Parks and Wildlife Service). These agencies were involved in the production of the first ad which addresses illegal dumping in a bushland setting.

The ads have been made available to other Voluntary Regional Waste Groups to use in their own areas.

Funding has been made available for continued programming of the ads during 2009/10.

2009

On Friday 30th October 2009, over 100 people attended the Exhibition Opening of Waste into Art 2009, at the Gladstone Gallery. Mayor John Bowell officiated on the night with 61 entries being judged and prizes awarded. For all the prizewinners, catalogue and photos of entries, click here. The exhibition is open until Sunday 15th November.

During 2007/08, Kempsey ran their inaugural ‘Waste to Art’ Competition, modelled on NetWaste’s successful programme. The event was very popular, with eighty-five entries from 8 different local schools. The artworks were varied in colour and magnitude, and served to not only highlight the creative skills of the young people in Kempsey Shire but also created awareness of how important recycling is to our environment. The winner of the 2007 competition was Eric Kerr from Kempsey High School with his artwork entitled "Roocycled – It’s a million dollar industry”.

Kempsey Shire Council encouraged all local schools to become involved in its "Waste into Art" competition, which offered substantial prizes in the form of cash vouchers so that the schools could invest in educational resources.

Entry into the competition was free and there were four (4) main categories:

• Collage - Artworks made from a collection of different forms, glued to paper or canvas, creating a new whole (may include magazine clippings, bits of coloured paper, photographs, etc).
• Sculpture - A 3 dimensional (3D) object.
• Mixed Media - Artworks in which more than one medium has been used, eg paint, paper, metal.
• Wearable - Clothing as artistic expression (eg hat).

Each category had three age sections - Infants, Primary and Secondary. Prizes of $500 were given to the school of the winners in each section, and $100 presented for those artworks given a High Commendation in each section. Prize money of $1,000 went to the school of the Overall Winning entry.

An exhibition of "Waste into Art" finalists was shown at the Macleay Valley Art Gallery between Thursday, 1 November, and Sunday, 11 November 2007, which coincided with National Recycling Week. The exhibition featured more than 80 artworks created from recycled materials by ten local schools.

A pre-requisite for Waste into Art entries was that at least 90% of the artwork would be composed of waste materials. The judges considered creativity, aesthetic merit, innovation, craftsmanship and quality of work in determining the winning entries.

The competition was successful that Kempsey is well underway with preparations for ‘Waste to Art 2009’.