New food waste service, fortnightly rubbish pick up in Macedon Ranges

General rubbish will only be collected fortnightly under an ambitious new Macedon Ranges Council plan set to be rolled out. Here’s why.

Rubbish collection will move to fortnightly in the Macedon Ranges.

General rubbish bins will only be collected every two weeks in the Macedon Ranges as an ambitious new council service is geared up for rollout.

However, all properties across the shire will be able to dump food and garden waste into green bins, to be collected every week and the scraps processed into compost.

All food waste, including dairy, meat and bones can be processed.

The move follows the successful trial of a limited FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) service last November. It will be rolled out across the shire over five years.

Malmsbury, Bullengarook, Monegeetta and Tylden will receive the service sometime after June 30.

Macedon Ranges Mayor Janet Pearce said she understood the need for an adjustment period for the community.

“The trial has been well supported, and residents told us they were keen to go to the

next stage to a full food organics service,” Cr Pearce said.

“We understand moving to fortnightly general rubbish collection is a big change for some residents, so we want to give them as much notice as possible.”

The whole shire will receive the service by the 2023/24 financial year.

Garbage service costs will increase $7 per household per year to fund the annual supply of compostable bin liners, supplied by the council with a kitchen caddie to store food.

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“Reducing the amount of waste going to landfill is a key priority of council,” Cr Pearce said.

“Rolling out a full food organics service will go a long way to help us achieve this, as well as reducing the shire’s net carbon emissions.”

Further details of the rollout can be found on the Macedon Ranges Council website.