Kerbside waste and recycling in Yarra will soon be revolutionised following tonight’s council decision.
On Tuesday 18 February, Yarra Councillors voted to roll out a four-bin system that has been trialled in parts of Abbotsford since June 2019.
“Yarra and its residents have long been a leader in environmental sustainability, responding to the climate emergency and this decision is consistent with that commitment,” said Cr Coleman.
“The new waste and recycling collection model is based on a very successful trial with 1300 households in Abbotsford since last year.
“The new service introduces a new food and green waste service that would be collected weekly, removing much of the material that causes odours.
“Another additional new bin will be added for glass, which will be processed locally and used to make new glass containers and for local asphalt. The glass, commingled recycling, and landfill waste bins will be collected fortnightly.
“We started this trial because recycling in Australia is in crisis. It’s time we did things very, very differently and councils and communities like ours are providing the leadership to drive change in this industry,” said Cr Coleman.
“There is a growing trend of councils moving to greater separation of waste to reduce reliance on unsustainable landfills and to improve reuse of recyclable materials. Eleven other councils in Victoria are moving to a fortnightly landfill waste collection service.
“The trial has seen a dramatic reduction in waste going to landfill – diverting about 60% of household waste from landfill.” Cr Coleman said.
The benefits of this new system include a significant reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill, a substantial increase in the quality of recyclable materials, and very significant reductions in truck movements around our city, which will reduce vehicle emissions.
Households will actually have more bin capacity through the new service. Under the 4-bin model, households will get a total increased capacity of 50 litres per week.
Feedback from trial participants has been positive and demonstrates a willingness in the Yarra community to take a new approach to managing our waste.
“We surveyed over 400 residents in the trial area. Almost 80% told us they think these changes are an improvement in managing waste and just under 90% support separating their waste for collection. Almost 73% of trial participants were satisfied with the fortnightly garbage collection.”
One resident told us: “I’m loving the changes – and think it’s really important to make them.”
Another said: “I am very glad that this revolution is happening. Many other countries have been doing this for years and Australia needs to catch up.”
These changes will come into effect from July 2020. Until then, residents should keep recycling and putting bins out for collection as usual.
