With the recent introduction of a $20 waste management facility levy, focus has returned to the facility and the services that it offers.

The Director of Planning and Environmental Services at Blayney Shire Council, Mark Dicker, said that the $20 levy only covered a small percentage of the overall cost of running the facility.

“The levy raises only 6% of the total forecast expenditure for waste services which for 2018/19 is $1.32 million,” he said.

With that though, Mr Dicker said, residents will now be able to dispose of many items for free.

“Residential green waste, clean fill, light and heavy steel, motor vehicles, all of the recyclables and E-waste are now free to drop off,” he said.

Compared to Orange City Council, Blayney residents are not charged for many items that Orange residents are.

“The main differences I can see is that Blayney council does not charge for clean fill, steel and E-Waste items, where Orange City Council does,” he said.

Other no-charge items in Blayney include hazardous waste such as batteries, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, smoke detectors and gas bottles directed to the designated recovery facility.

Also of no charge are Drum Muster certified agricultural drums, sump oil and items resold through the recovery shop.

A new service being introduced is the new RECYCLE ‘n’ SWAP bin exchange system that general manager Rebecca Ryan said will be of benefit to landholders looking to recycle household waste.

“Many of them have old bins that are not used on roadsides anymore, so they can now fill them up, bring them here where we will simply swap the old bin for another old one that they can take home,” she said.

“They don’t have to empty them any more, just drop them off, grab a new one and the contractor JRR Richards will take them away.”

Contract manager Wayne Hadlow said that it makes sense to sort your load before coming to the facility.

“By separating out the free to dispose items from everything else you can save quite a bit if you have a full load,” he said.