Change is coming to your bins

STAGE ONE

Your new purple lid kerbside glass bin will be delivered October 2024, with first collection taking place November/December 2024.

STAGE TWO

The collection frequency changes will take place February 2025, with landfill bins collected fortnightly and organic bins collected weekly.

We encourage all residents to download our Moira Waste Info App to check your bin days. https://www.moira.vic.gov.au/Moira_Waste_App

The Victorian Government implemented the Circular Economy (waste reduction and recycling) Act 2021.

Under this Act, the four-stream service is a requirement for Council to implement. Council endorses this transition as it is an opportunity for us to get better at recycling, reduce what goes into landfill and, create environmental benefits for our future.

So what exactly is the new four-stream service?

 The new four-bin system is improving how we manage waste and recycling in Victoria.

The changes to the recycling system means that glass will no longer be able to be collected in the mixed recycling bin and will have to be collected separately.

It will see glass, food and garden organics, mixed recyclables, and household landfill waste separated at the home.  

Currently our kerbside waste services are inefficient with many items not sorted correctly, costing ratepayers money, and significantly adding to our community’s carbon footprint. As such we are changing collection frequencies to improve services and better manage ratepayers’ costs.

The collection frequency changes will take place in February 2025, with landfill bins collected fortnightly and organic bins collected weekly.

All households that have a mixed recycling kerbside bin will be allocated a 120Lt purple lid glass bin. Putting glass in our mixed recycling bin will no longer be an option. You cannot opt out of the purple lid glass bin service, even if you choose not to use the bin.

We won’t use the glass bin and therefore will not bring it in when delivered.

If you are not going to use the purple lid glass bin, please keep your bin stored on your property. If you move house, the next family may want to use the glass bin. Bins stay with the property. Please note that glass will not be allowed to go into the yellow lid recycling bin after the service starts on 1 December 2024 and will be deemed contamination in your recycling bin. 

Won’t all glass be collected and recycled as part of Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS)?

Only glass drink containers will be eligible under the CDS. Sauce, oil bottles and glass jars will not be accepted through the CDS.

The purple lid glass bin will be a convenient option for those who choose not to or are unable to use the CDS.

Will all Victorian households have four bins?

In areas with kerbside collection services, households will move to a four-stream service. For households that do not have a kerbside service, or where one may not be possible, glass recycling can be accessed through drop-off points at all Moira Shire Resource Recovery Centres. For those rural residents that do not have a kerbside organics service, food and garden organics can be accessed through drop-of points at all Moira Shire Resource Recovery Centres.

Glass, when mixed with other recyclable materials, often shatters and contaminates valuable, easy-to-recycle materials such as paper, plastic and cardboard. This reduces these materials quality and ability to be recycled, which lands them in landfill. By separating glass effectively, more materials from the recycling bin can also be recycled. It also ensures all glass is recycled, including glass shards.

Rotting organic waste in landfill releases methane into the air and contributes greatly to climate change. A fortnight of food and garden organic waste in a kerbside bin can lead to unpleasant odours, especially over the summer months.

Research has shown that a more frequent collection of food and garden organics is a driver in encouraging change to reduce food waste in landfill bins.

This change is also in-line with the Victorian Government circular economy policy and plan Recycling Victoria: A new economy, which has set key actions for all Victorian Local Government to have zero organic material to landfill by 2030 and 80% of materials currently going to landfill to be diverted to alternative disposal methods by 2030. 

By making this switch of landfill and organics kerbside collection, we hope to divert over 5,000 tonnes of organic material a year from landfill.

We are also joining over 17 other Victorian councils who have already successfully made the collection switch.

As we are moving to a new waste contractor, commencing December 2024, we are working with them to assess current collection days and any possible changes will be communicated to residents well before they take place.