JAMES Downes is Ararat\u2019s original recycler.<\/p>\n
For decades, he has diligently collected and disposed of Ararat\u2019s recyclable waste, keeping hundreds of tonnes of glass, cardboard and plastic from landfill.<\/p>\n
It was for many years a good business, but Mr\u00a0 Downes said things have changed dramatically and he is now in a difficult position where there is no longer a market for recycled glass and cardboard.<\/p>\n
Now in his 80s and wanting to retire, Mr Downes said he\u2019s in limbo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot get rid of paper and cardboard. We can take it to Stawell to a recycler up there but he can\u2019t get rid of some of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt costs me money to get it up to Stawell. We do charge some people to pick up paper and cardboard around town but it doesn\u2019t cover our costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a huge glut of cardboard in Australia and at the moment the government won\u2019t allow the excess to be exported,\u2019 Mr Downes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only recycle about 60% of what is available,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil may be able to help me dispose of some of the glass but the plant they have isn\u2019t that big and I\u2019ve got 80 tonnes of it (glass),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing I have of any value is the plastic milk bottles, the PET and shrink wrap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Downes said he\u2019s considering shutting the doors and giving everything away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a buyer but I\u2019ve got to clear the land first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got an ill sister at home and I\u2019ve got to slow down and be home a bit more so it might be a good thing to give it away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Downes said not so long ago, there were good prices being paid for paper and glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaper people Visy and Aurora were paying good prices, they were fighting one another to get the material. Now they don\u2019t want to know about us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Downes said he wants to clear the huge deposit of glass at his McLean Street depot so he can sell the back half of his property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to clear the glass, there\u2019s a fellow who wants the block of land so I\u2019ve got to clear that so I can divide the property,\u201d Mr Downes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlass is 100% recyclable, the only thing is it needs to be separated into different colours to be recycled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Downes said people want to recycle, but he is reluctantly asking people to stop dropping off material at his premises.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still prepared to take small amounts but eventually we\u2019ll have to stop taking it alltogether.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the federal or state government could help kick start recycling by offering subsidies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing the government could do is subsidise us so much a tonne for handling the material. That would be a huge help,\u201d Mr Downes said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAMES Downes is Ararat\u2019s original recycler.
\nFor decades, he has diligently collected and disposed of Ararat\u2019s recyclable waste, keeping hundreds of tonnes of glass, cardboard and plastic from landfill.
\nIt was for many years a good business, but Mr\u00a0 Downes said things have changed dramatically and he is now in a difficult position where there is no longer a market for recycled glass and cardboard.
\nNow in his 80s and wanting to retire, Mr Downes said he\u2019s in limbo.
\n\u201cWe cannot get rid of paper and cardboard. We can take it to Stawell to a recycler up there but he can\u2019t get rid of some of it,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt costs me money to get it up to Stawell. We do charge some people to pick up paper and cardboard around town but it doesn\u2019t cover our costs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/IMG_7944-8-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-r9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}