Port Phillip Council to trial recycling food and garden, glass waste
Get ready for new bins and new waste management rules in Port Phillip in the wake of the recycling fiasco. Here’s what you need to know about the coming changes.
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Household food scraps and glass will now be recycled in Port Phillip as part of a trial aimed at curbing landfill.
Under the eight-month trial, some homes will get separate bins for food and garden waste and glass products, while communal glass bins will also be placed at several reserves throughout the municipality.
Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss said the changes were part of the council’s Don’t Waste It! waste management strategy, which was adopted before the recycling crisis hit Australia.
“While our general recycling service has well and truly resumed, we don’t want to waste any opportunities to keep even more refuse out of landfill and to improve the contamination rates impacting our recycling effort,” she said.
Cr Voss said food and garden waste made up 24 per cent of the average Port Phillip home’s waste bin.
“We believe … a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin could be very beneficial,” she said.
The trial is due to start in 2020 and data collected during the eight-month period will determine if there is scope to continue the program or even expand it.
Here’s what’s planned as part of the trial:
■ A 120L glass-only kerbside recycling bin for 200 homes in Garden City (Port Melbourne), collected fortnightly
■ Four 660L communal glass drop-off bins at public reserves in South Melbourne and Albert Park
■ A FOGO bin for 500 Elwood properties to recycle organic matter which would normally have gone to landfill
■ Waste collected during street sweeping across the city will be sent for recycling in a 12-month trial
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Cr Voss said the cost of waste services had increased significantly over the past five years and more money would need to be allocated to the waste management program if the trial was to continue.
She didn’t rule out introducing a waste and amenity levy but said the community would be consulted before a decision was made.
A levy would bring Port Phillip in line with 72 councils in Victoria.
“I want to stress that no decision has been made about a levy and I encourage all members of our community to provide their feedback when the consultation begins,” she said.