Tonnes of recycling are still being picked up from south-west streets, but where it all ends up is something of a mystery.
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Since China’s import ban, costs have risen, but Warrnambool chief Bruce Anson said how much was currently being recycled was unknown.
“We don’t know how much of our recyclables are recycled and how much is stored. There’s a lot of storage going on at the moment all over Australia. There’s sheds full of bottles, there’s sheds full of paper,” he said.
Warrnambool City Council manager of city amenity Glenn Reddick said until the recycling crisis hit, councils that contracted out their recycling collection had little reason to learn about where it was going.
“That’s been our problem, that we’ve never really understood how much of it is actually getting recycled. Was sending it to China recycling? That’s one of the big quandaries,” he said.
“You’ve got these recycling costs going up and up and up, but how much of the product is actually being turned into something else? We’ve never known that because we’re not in that market, we’re really just collectors.
“We could be paying a fairly significant amount for recycling and we don’t know how much is actually being recycled so is that actually good value for the community?”
Warrnambool City, like many councils including Moyne and Corangamite, deal with contractors who then pass recyclables on to bigger processors such as Visy.
“It’s complex because you’ve got councils that have all got different contractual arrangements, they all expire at different times. It’s complicated,” Mr Reddick said.
Despite the uncertainty, the message to households is the same – keep putting the bins out.
Warrnambool City said it was “business as usual” for the public as governments and industry grapple with solutions to the recycling crisis.
