80% Diversion Target in sights for Moira Shire

Moira Shire Council has laid out a clear plan to enable its communities to increase the diversion of rubbish away from expensive landfill.

Reflecting on this plan, Moira Shire Council’s Chair Administrator Dr Graeme Emonson PSM said that ‘‘rubbish going to landfill is incredibly costly for ratepayers and is damaging to the environment. It is in everyone’s interests to divert as much rubbish away from landfill as possible, and this plan enables our communities to do this.”

Having completed an extensive four-month community consultation, Council will introduce a weekly household collection service for food and green waste, and a monthly household glass collection service. Landfill and recycling bins will be collected fortnightly.

A new purple bin for glass only recycling will be delivered to households in October this year, with the first collection set to take place before the end of 2024. Changes to the landfill and food and green waste collection services are scheduled to commence in February next year.

The plan has considered the feedback gathered during the community consultation period, and as a result, Council will schedule additional landfill and recycling collection services for households over the peak periods of Christmas and Easter. Households with 6 or more occupants or two children in nappies will be able to purchase a larger landfill bin collection service.

Dr Emonson understood that these changes would require an adjustment period for the community and committed to a comprehensive community education program leading up to the changes to support residents.

“Victoria is moving to a four-stream waste collection system and many councils have already moved this way. While this change may be challenging for some residents, these changes will reduce landfill waste and improve the quality of recyclable items, creating a more sustainable community and environment,” said Dr Emonson.

A previous Waste Audit from 2021 revealed that 61% of the waste in Moira Shire’s kerbside landfill comprised of recoverable items. Data from the latest Waste Audit conducted earlier this year has found from the kerbside bins inspected, the average capacity was 51% of the 120-litre landfill bin. From this, the following items made up the kerbside landfill bin.

• 71.24% (43.62L) residual waste,

• 23.57% (14.43L) recyclable items,

• 4.3% (2.63L) Organics and,
• 0.89% (0.55L) non-acceptable kerbside waste, such as batteries and e-waste
  
  

Detailed information, including kerbside collection calendars, guidelines on what can and cannot go in each bin, and what is accepted at the Resource Recovery Centres, are available on Council's website: www.moira.vic.gov.au/the-world-of-waste