The territory government has ordered that tonnes of recyclable material be dumped in landfill with other waste following WorkSafe's shutdown of the Hume recycling centre last week.
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On Wednesday, it was estimated that between 200 and 250 tonnes of "co-mingled material" were dumped into the active tip face and landfill site in Hume, rather than being kept at the facility for processing.
A spokeswoman for the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate said the recyclables were dumped as a "stop gap" solution while the plant struggles with the shut down and an increase in deliveries.
"The facility is experiencing logistical challenges due to the increased volumes from the ACT Container Deposit Scheme, additional NSW local government kerbside material, and due to the facility processing glass into finished products on site," the spokeswoman said.
The Hume Recycling Centre also accepts recycling from the Queanbeyan-Palerang and Snowy Monaro local government areas.
A spokesperson for the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council said they had not been formally advised that recyclables were being dumped into landfill.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council were contacted for comment but did not respond.
The spokeswoman for TCCS said the recycling centre was contracted to accept and process material from ACT's yellow bins, however they were allowed to make arrangements with other councils and commercial businesses outside the territory.
Garth Lamb, chief development officer of Re.Group - which runs the plant - said the Materials Recovery Facility does have limited space for the storage.
"There is a limited storage capacity at that storage area," he said.
Mr Lamb said the facility was not accepting deliveries on Wednesday morning, but would be fully operational again by Thursday - subject to the approval of WorkSafe ACT.
Hume recycling centre was shut down on January 8 after WorkSafe ACT identified a number of hazards, including blocked fire exits, missing guard rails and fire extinguishers.
Processing operations re-commenced on Tuesday, but an excess amount of material - so massive that plastic was seen to be spilling out of the facility's doors - saw a lot of it transported to a "temporary stockpile" at the Mugga Lane tip.
Mr Lamb said anything remaining in the stockpile that hasn't already been buried in landfill when the centre returns to normal operations will be transported back to them for processing.
The spokeswoman for TCCS said the directorate would continue to "work closely" with the facility and WorkSafe ACT to ensure a "safe workplace" is maintained, going ahead.
Re.Group has a $6.486 million contract to run the Hume recycling centre until 2022.
A WorkSafe spokeswoman said on Wednesday morning the watchdog had been working with Re.Group management to remediate the site, including clearing the excess stored material and rectifying the identified safety issues.
"The excess material is being processed on site under strictly controlled conditions with WorkSafe ACT’s supervision," she said.
Staff at the Hume recycling centre said that a truck in its driveway on Wednesday afternoon, which was loaded with bales of compressed recyclable material, was headed "to market" for sale.
Bin collections were delayed for 24 hours last Friday in parts of Franklin and the suburb of Gungahlin as a result of the shut down, but there have been no other missed services as a result.
with Katie Burgess
