Colac Otway Shire Council’s first year of glass-only recycling has been a great success.
Kerbside collection of the glass-only bins and glass collection at Transfer Stations in Apollo Bay and Alvie began in the shire November 2021.
Mayor Chris Potter commended the Colac Otway community for their efforts in separating glass into the purple bin.
“It’s great to see how the Colac Otway community has embraced the glass recycling initiative, we’ve placed over 500 tonnes of glass bottles and jars in the purple bin to be sent for recycling. That’s the weight of about three average houses.
“This is a really positive environmental outcome as glass is 100% recyclable which means it gets used time and time again and doesn’t end up in landfill,” Cr Potter said.
Council also launched the GoodSort App in November last year, the App has now been downloaded by almost 3000 users.
“The GoodSort App provides bin night reminders, details of what goes in each bin, any changes to services, as well as other helpful information about waste and recycling,” Cr Potter said.
“This technology also helps Council with our goal of informing and educating residents about waste and recycling services to achieve better environmental outcomes.
Cr Potter said he was impressed with the community’s efforts to recycle glass bottles and jars over the past year.
“The current and increasing trends are seeing significant volumes of glass being removed from landfill and comingle recycling streams toward providing a product that is 100% recyclable.
“All recycling efforts are great for the environment and our goal remains to reduce as much waste sent to landfill as we can.”
The State Government will implement further recycling initiatives and waste prevention measures next year as part of their reforms in this area.
Initiatives to be implemented in Victoria include a ban on single-use plastics (such as plastic straws and plastic cutlery) which will commence in early 2023 and a container deposit scheme, which provides a 10-cent refund on the return of a drinking can, carton and bottle.
