From social media comments that said ‘I won’t be using that bin’ (in one way or another), to photos showing residents wanting to throw their bins out when they received them, it was a two-year long saga that seemed like it may just never end. 

The mayor even ran a ‘ban the bin’ campaign during the council election, comparing council (as it was under the administrator) to North Korea, before changing his slogan to ‘save our weekly garbage collection’, once the contract was approved and signed. 

But it seems, despite all this in the lead up, and some more after the bins were distributed, we have embraced the green, yellow and red lids. 

Rolled out in July the three-bin system was introduced in the Dubbo Regional Council area, the Mid-Western Regional Council area and the Narromine Shire Council area. 

Before the new bin began, council expected only 500 tonnes of organic waste to be thrown away each year. In October alone 950 tonnes was collected. 

If you are looking at that as an average collection on a yearly basis you’re looking at a whopping 11,400 tonnes of organic waste a year, thrown out by a city where it seemed half of the residents were 100 per cent against the organic bin. 

There’s also be a reduction in the amount of rubbish going into landfill since the start of the three bins by a massive 50 per cent. 

That’s not too shabby at all Dubbo! 

While it seems a few of us still need to learn the difference between plastic and not plastic, it’s sinking in slowly with the amount of plastic found in green bins going down. 

And if you do throw something in the bin that shouldn't be there you’ll get a little note telling you not to do it next time – a good reminder and a good lesson. 

If you are unsure before you toss, there is a lot of information out there about what goes in which bin – and for a simple solution you can always ring council and ask the question. 

Let’s ditch the plastic (and make it easier for those working at the recycling plant), and focus on what goes in what bin. 

It seems, despite all the objections to begin with, we are a great group of recyclers – those tonnes don’t lie! 

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