City to roll-out recyling bins but ratepayers to get reprieve from costs in the first year

Residents apart from those living on huge blocks will get a green council bin. See when

All residents apart from those living on huge blocks will get a green council bin from next year in a bid to reduce waste operational costs.

But the City will waive the extra charges to new bin owners in the first 12 months. Existing customers will get a rebate as well.

Councillors at a waste committee meeting backed the move, as council works to reduce costs in sorting waste and expanding landfill with a State Government waste levy being removed.

All councillors at a full council meeting on Friday are expected to support the expanded service.

Council will provide more information on the roll-out of bins in 2023 with the service due to start “in the second half of the year”.

The recommendation from officers will see all single detached dwellings between 250 sq m and 5000 sq m across the Coast receive a green organics bin collected fortnightly.

The ramp up in recycling occurs against a backdrop of the City signing one of its biggest private contracts, promising almost $36m in savings in waste management.

The Gold Coast City Council is expanding its green bin service across the city. The aim is to reduce green waste going into its general bins.

Veolia Environmental Services Australia Pty Ltd has secured a seven-year contract worth $280m.

Unions estimate 70 City positions could be impacted but council leaders are confident there will be few job losses with employees working for either Veolia or seeking new City jobs.

The introduction of more green waste bin will see an estimated 27,000 tonnes of green organics — prunings, grass clippings, leaves, palm fronds, small branche — diverted from landfill every year.

Mayor Tom Tate said the block sizes of between 250sqm and 50000 sqm had been chosen to represent the greatest need.

Small blocks were not producing huge amounts of green organics and very large blocks likely to provide too much leaf and grass material to find the service valuable.

“Audits of residential bin services show that around 27 per cent of materials in the general waste (red lid) bins are green organics, ending up in landfill,” Cr Tate said

The Gold Coast City Council is expanding its release of green bins across the city.

“We just can’t operate like that in 2023.

“By expanding the green organics service to an additional 100,000 dwellings, we will divert approximately 27,000 tonnes of green organics from landfill, deliver a five per cent increase in the baseline recycling rate for the city and reduce the State Government Waste Levy liability.”

Mr Tate said operational benefits included a lower cost per service across the city.

He said a rebate for the service would be provided to new and existing residential green organics service customers in the first year of operation in 2023-24.

Property owners currently pay an annual fee of $55.40 for their fortnighty green bin service. Tenants pay $95.55 which includes a one-off refundable deposit of $42.75.

Gold Coast City Council Mayor Tom Tate — we have to improve recycling.

The City says the roll-out of more bins is the first step in meeting community expectation, as advised by the 2021 community consultation on the Solid Waste Strategy Mid Term Review. The bigger network of green bins also provides the foundation for the potential future expansion to food organics as well as green organics, which would provide more reductions in Waste Levy liability and environmental impacts.

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