Reviewing how we manage waste
This consultation is now closed. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback.
Your feedback will help Council review its Don't Waste It! Waste Management Strategy 2018-28, which was developed to respond to both the challenges and opportunities presented by our rapidly growing City.
We'll review all feedback received prior to presenting a revised draft strategy to Council at a Council meeting in late April for endorsement. Subject to Council's endorsement, the revised draft Waste Management Strategy will be released for further community feedback.
The rapid growth of our City, in both established and new neighbourhoods, means we’re producing more waste. Meanwhile, as we all face significant challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, even the way we dispose of our waste has changed.
As we spend more time at home, our household waste has increased and for some of us our bins are filling up faster than usual. As we spend more time in our local area, there has been an increased demand for our street bins, which are also filling up more quickly.
The way we have been managing waste up until now, cheap landfilling and exporting our recycling, is no longer an option. We all know that the amount of waste we produce as a society impacts both our immediate and broader environment. We are getting better at recycling, but large volumes of recyclable material still end up in landfill because it's placed in the wrong bin or can't be sorted effectively.
The time has come for all of us, community and Council, to change how we manage waste.
Since the strategy was adopted, there have been changes affecting the waste and recycling sector, including:
- State policy reforms (National Waste Policy 2018 & Action Plan and Recycling Victoria: a new economy)
- New Legislation (Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021), which sets out the establishment of Recycling Victoria, a dedicated government business unit to oversee and provide strategic leadership for the waste and recycling sector in July 2022
- EPA landfill levy increases
- China’s ‘Operation Green Fence’ (2013) and National Sword Policy (2017)Increase in waste produced due to COVID-19 pandemic and many people working from home.
Building a sustainable future for our City requires a response to ongoing state, national and international changes to how waste is managed. Council and our community also have a role to play.
Victorian Government policy reforms on waste and recycling mean all councils must provide access to a four-stream waste model - garbage, mixed recycling, glass, and food organics and garden organics (FOGO) by 2030.
Recycling Victoria is the Victorian Government’s policy released in 2021 that articulates how the State envisages waste and recycling being managed across Victoria.
This policy is supported by the Waste Act, which is legislation passed by the Victorian Parliament. Among many things, the Waste Act and its subordinate regulations, compel all councils to roll-out certain waste services, including the ‘four streams’ (general waste, general recycling, glass and FOGO) across the entire state.
Our community has previously told us they want glass recycling and food organics and garden organics (FOGO) services, so we're developing a plan to introduce them earlier than 2030, which is when the Victorian Government requires all these services to be in place by.
There will be variations in how these services are delivered across our City, based on a combination of factors including truck access, volume of material and frequency, as well as recent trials in parts of our City.
Everyone will have access to communal glass recycling hubs.
It's difficult to recover and recycle glass from your general recycling bin - especially when it's in small pieces. That's why we're separating out glass for recycling.
Recent kerbside glass recycling trials indicated glass volumes don't warrant a kerbside service, so communal collection points for glass recycling will be set up in multiple locations throughout our City for everyone to access.
Food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste services will be offered as a combination of kerbside and communal services
Communal food organics and garden organics (FOGO) recycling hubs
We've already got some communal FOGO hubs in some neighbourhoods, and we're planning to expand these hubs across our City by mid-July 2023 to make it easier for houses and apartments that don’t receive a kerbside FOGO bin to dispose of their food and garden organic waste.
Kerbside FOGO bins
In early 2023, we'll be offering 120L lime-green lidded kerbside FOGO bins to houses or townhouses that have space to store an extra bin on their property.
We're also planning for eligible apartments and multiple-unit blocks to receive kerbside FOGO bins in mid-2023.
How can I have my say?
You can contribute to this review by clicking on the 'Take our survey' tab below and completing a survey by Saturday 5 March.
You can also suggest locations for a communal hub in your neighbourhood by placing a pin on the map in the 'Suggest a location' tab below.
If you have a question for us, you can post it in the 'Ask a question' tab below.
Online Q&A sessions
View the recordings of these sessions via the videos on this page.
Take our survey
Ask a question
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These are the people that are listening and responding to your questions.
Stacey Ward
Senior Strategy Officer Waste Futures
Marleen Mathias
Program Director Waste Futures
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Suggest a location for a communal hub
If you would like to ask a question or need more information about the project, you can submit a question below and we'll do our best to answer as quickly as we can.
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This space is for you to post questions to Council officers, not for comments or feedback. Please provide any comments or feedback through the survey, so we can keep a record of all feedback received.
