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DON'T
WASTE OUR STRAND
Don't Waste Our Strand was the first of
several drill down components of the Don't Waste Townsville
concept. This component has been very high profile due to
the high public image of the Strand and the sheer number
of visitors it attracts during events. Winner of Australia's
Cleanest Beach (2004) and Queensland's Cleanest beach (2003),
the Strand is an area that residents and visitors regularly
flock to.
 Don't
Waste our Strand has two main components. They are:
- Public Place Recycling
- Event Recycling
Public Place Recycling
Citiwaste's
kerbside recycling has been operating very successfully
in Townsville since 1992 however it became apparent that
there was an opportunity to considerably expand the opportunity
to recycle by offering the public a choice of recycling
when disposing of litter in a public place.
Council's Environmental Health Officers
with the assistance of the Beverage
industry Environment Council (BIEC) conducted an analysis
of littering hot spots to determine if bins were located
appropriately and if recycling was a feasible option.
During this assessment process it was identified
that the existing bins were insufficient for the demand
required for the 2.2 kilometre long stretch of beachfront
parkland.
Additional bins were installed to bring
the numbers up to 44 litter bins and 13 recycling locations.
Furthermore, some existing bins were relocated to areas
where littering hot spots were identified.
Townsville City Councils Litter
Strategy (.pdf
200kb) identifies the importance of establishing
precinct specific bin styles. The bin style on the strand
had to be rust proof, bird proof, and be able to carry signage.
Strand bins - Gregory street
headland
Bins on the Strand are emptied seven days
a week and twice daily during periods of high demand such
as weekends and public holidays. Statistics of what is in
these bins is recorded by Citiwaste when the bins are emptied.
During 2005 the average amount of contamination
in the recycling bins was recorded to be 10%. The amount
recycling that ended up in the adjacent litter bin (leakage)
was 50%. This high level of leakage is due to the design
of the recycling bins that will not allow for large items
such as pizza boxes to be recycled.
Event Recycling
The Strand is regularly the venue for large
events. During these events waste and recycling infrastructure
is ramped up to cater for the large volumes of waste that
is produced by crowds of people that attend these events.
Events where recycling is regularly promoted include:
- The Strand markets
- The Greek Festival
- The Cultural Festival; and
- Townsville Skyshow
This event recycling is proving to be hugely
successful. One of the larger recent events was the 2003
Townsville Skyshow. The Skyshow was an aircraft and aerobatic
display culminating in a fireworks extravaganza. The Townsville
Bulletin estimated that 80,000 people attended the event.
  
For this event 277 recycling and garbage
locations were set up to accommodate the crowds of people.
Public support for recycling was gained prior and during
the event by using a range of promotional materials. These
included:
After the event the material in the bins
was weighed. Just over 3 Tonnes of material was collected
with 24% of material in the recycling bins.
This recycling was broken down into material
type by volume and contamination was estimated to be as
low as 6%.
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