Early this year China imposed stricter contamination thresholds on tens of millions of tonnes of the state’s imported recyclables, sending shudders through global recycling networks.

Council’s infrastructure director Scott Cavanagh said it was urging the government to continue to work on a solution with the end destination of the south-west’s recyclable products ultimately unknown.

“We know the government is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in the sustainability fund,” he said.

“We continue our call for that to be released and used to help build a strong domestic use for our recycling products.

“Council is actively looking at that and what changes we might be able to make to the recycling service to improve the quality of the material.”

Mr Cavanagh said there had not been tangible action on the crisis, which was revealed at the start of 2018.

“What has been a little disappointing since the recycling crisis started is that there has been a lot of talk on what we can do better and what we have to change, but not a lot of action on the ground yet,” he said.

“We are still looking to the state government for strong leadership in this space. We want a viable recycling service for the Warrnambool community.

“We really want to see the focus move away from the reliance on exporting of recyclable materials to local industries and the local value add that can happen. We’d also love for some of that to happen here in the Warrnambool area as well.”

Mr Cavanagh said a facility in the south-west would mean more jobs and economic benefits for the region.

He said Warrnambool’s recycling went to VISY in Melbourne.

“It’s very difficult to get a lot of detail where the waste goes,” he said.

“A lot of the companies are very protective of their market. What we understand is a lot of the paper and cardboard goes domestically to VISY’s plants.

“We are working to try and understand what happens with the other products. I think unfortunately one of the things we are seeing is that there is not a lot of clarity around where the final product is actually going. It’s a concern we’ve got and we are certainly trying to address that.”

Glass contamination is a major recycling issue, and the council is considering a glass pick-up service.

“There are so many points during the process where it can be broken,” he said. “It is advantageous to have it removed.”