City of Port Phillip to modify bins to stop people raiding cans, bottles
Port Phillip council is so frustrated with people rummaging through rubbish for cans and bottles, it’s making changes to its bins.
Victoria
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Fed up with people pulling rubbish out of bins in search of recyclable containers, Port Phillip council has come up with a modification to accommodate cans, bottles and juice boxes.
About 80 street bins have been fitted with metal baskets on the side to collect the containers that can be recycled for cash.
The St Kilda-based council had been battling a growing problem of people creating a mess or damaging public bins while searching for the items, which are returned for 10c each under the
state’s Container Deposit Scheme.
Other councils have also had litter headaches such as residential wheelie bins being up-ended in the hunt for the 10c containers.
City of Port Phillip is the first to trial the new collection measure.
Mayor Louise Crawford said it was hoped making it easier to collect recyclables meant the council’s bins would not be damaged.
“And we’ll be diverting more from landfill,” Ms Crawford said.
“We did try installing more public recycling bins but found they were being contaminated
by litter.
“So this is hopefully a simple solution which benefits everyone, including local sporting and
community groups which raise funds through collecting cans and bottles.”
The baskets have been installed in busy pedestrian locations including on The Esplanade, St Kilda.
The trial will be evaluated in nine months. The results will be shared with other councils considering adopting the new bins.
More than 12 million containers have been returned in the Port Phillip area alone since the deposit scheme began in 2023.
More than 600 refund points have been created across the state.
Jim Round, chief executive of scheme co-ordinator VicReturn, said he hoped the Port Phillip trial would expand into other areas.
“When you’re out and about, leave your empty eligible drink containers in one of our new
baskets, or collect the ones already there for a 10c refund.”
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