About a million kilogrammes of rubbish is picked up each week in Orange. A tour next month will reveal where it goes.
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The event runs from 9am on June 1, 2024 at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre. Booking can be made here.
Where does your rubbish goes in Orange?
Hundreds of people across a complex network of council contractors and subcontractors in multiple cities contribute to the logistical jigsaw that keep the Colour City clean.
Extraordinary technology including ovens the size of a house, mechanical birds of prey, computerised probes, and kilometres-wide plastic sheets is used by local processing facilities.
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/b8c6e81c-be28-4c4a-95ce-fe0764b6b714.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Recent audits show Orange residents are producing more rubbish than ever before. Contamination rates are also high. Our environment, hip pockets, and safety are compromised as a result.
Incorrect disposal has caused at least one significant fire this year in Orange. Bizarre items - including a severed Kangaroo tail - have turned up in household bins.
"So much in Orange could still be diverted better ... people should do their research for the area about what goes where," environmental consultant Jo Smith told the CWD on a tour of local facilities.
Ground zero
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/98616dc0-64f1-48f9-8fc1-3d2111e69a98.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Resource Recovery Centre off Ophir Road is ground zero for waste management. After dawn collection of your bins, trucks make the pilgrimage north-west before engaging a precise choreography to efficiently sort waste types.
Domestic rubbish, recyclables, compostable waste, batteries, dangerous chemicals, furniture, electronics, gas bottles, white goods, masonry, fire extinguishers, and polystyrene are processed at or via the site.
Landfill
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/8d83669a-96a0-4c80-a90b-89759d037568.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The contents of your red bin - and that of of your 40,000 neighbours - are dropped at a building on the western edge of the bustling Ibis metropolis. Scrap metal is picked out by hand, but all else heads, by conveyor belt, to a towering hydraulic crusher dubbed the 'baler' below.
This machine compresses about 100 bricks daily, each 1.5 metres tall and weighing up to 1500 kilograms. An automated process uniquely wraps these in a heavy duty cling film due to a requirement from nearby bee farmers to prevent disease spread.
Throughout the day a convoy of trucks haul the bricks to a landfill site on Euchareena Road, about four kilometres north-east of Molong. Here they are stacked and buried on one of eight vast pyramid 'cells.'
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/79c41845-ba5b-41c9-aee6-70f9de73bf0d.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The site was controversially built in 2013, after pits used since the 1960s in Orange were filled in. It covers about three hectares, and sits on a plastic liner to prevent toxic waste entering the water table.
Plastic wrapping of household waste bricks in Orange makes the landfill cleaner than most, by preventing loose litter and reducing the prevalence of 'Disco Rice' - an industry term for writhing hoards of maggots. It is designed to remain open for 40 years.
Asbestos and animal carcasses are the only items still landfilled at the Ophir Road facility in Orange. This is to reduce transit times and improve community safety.
Organic waste
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/7c177113-1ae5-473c-9ecc-7af48f918d8c.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Organic waste crammed into your green bin follows a similar path. Adjacent to the baler is the purple shredder, responsible for pulping the garden material and foods.
The mulch is trucked to the same Molong site, where it is stacked in towering piles within an undercover shed. Overhead showers spray water to maintain 25 per cent moisture during storage to prevent fires.
Contamination in the piles is visible, with cans, plastic bottles, treated wood, and metal. All food including mean and bones can be disposed of with green waste in Orange.
About 1000 tonnes of material is shovelled into four ovens, each seven metres wide and 25 metres deep. Orange and Dubbo are the state's only LGAs to use this technology.
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/6b9fec29-cb17-4e08-956d-67537ea80c2d.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A three day stint in the chamber speeds up the breakdown with self generated heat, and kills off pathogens or weeds. Computerised probes drop into the chamber to measure water content and other key indicators.
The cooked material heads outside to be 'windrowed.' This involves up to five months in open air. Internal temperatures frequently exceed 63 degrees, and steam can been seen rising off the piles. Spontaneous combustion is possible.
A 16mm sieve is then used to separate larger pieces, which are used for landfill cover. The finer material is sold as organic compost to businesses including Cargo Wines and Wodonga Turf Farm. The product is sold at the resource centre for $40 per tonne.
Recycling
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/4f99598b-c465-4224-a099-11c4a536b657.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Recyclables from Orange, Bathurst, Forbes, Parkes, Cabonne, and Blayney are delivered to a central hanger at the Resource Centre to pool resources. The material is packed and shipped to a third-party facility at Eastern Creek in Sydney's west for processing.
A recent downturn in Chinese processing of Australian products has increased demand for infrastructure and services locally. Several new plants are set to be developed in NSW.
On the ground at Ophir
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/6bfb949b-442c-4e7c-8223-b1933807301f.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Collection of bulky, unusual, or dangerous material is offered in Orange. Batteries, chemicals, furniture, electronics, gas bottles, white good, masonry, fire extinguishers, polystyrene can be disposed for a small or no fee.
The numbers ... and why they matter
![Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong. Rubbish and recycling in Orange NSW. Resource Recovery Centre and landfill at Molong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177764495/6c9b621d-21d7-40a0-be1e-f108b7e83700.png/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
An audit in February revealed Orange residents are sending increasing amounts of waste to landfill. During the last year average weekly disposal per person climbed about 6.7 per cent, from 11.68 kilograms to 12.47 kilograms.
The study also found well-over-half the material disposed in Orange's general waste shouldn't be there. About 37 per cent is compostable organic material including food and garden waste. A further 20 per cent is recyclables.
In yellow-lid recycling bins about 12 per cent of material shouldn't be there. The primary contaminant in garden waste bins is plastic and compostable bags.
"For organics thats high. For recyclables ... obviously that's not good either," University of Queensland engineering professor William Clarke told the Central Western Daily at the time.
"Any organic material in landfill is not good - it will produce methane. While some landfills make an effort to capture that gas, they never capture all of it. The other issue with plastics, glass, and aluminium is ... it's less energy and emission intensive to recycle those materials."
A prepared media statement from acting-Mayor Gerald Power said: "By correctly using the three kerbside bins available in Orange, we can reduce waste and help the environment."
In October, 2022 council recycling contamination is on the rise across the region. Councillors voted to issue warning letters to repeat offenders.
"Recycling contamination affects the safety and efficiency of sorting processes at the Recycling Centre," a draft of the letter said.
"Contamination contributes to a more dangerous and unpleasant work environment for staff and can lead to recyclable items being landfilled."
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