Taking out the trash: Councils that miss bins and charge high rates revealed

A ranking of Melbourne councils reveals which are missing the most kerbside collections and the highest charges for the service.

How your council is faring on one of its core responsibilities – collecting and managing your rubbish – has been revealed.

The Herald Sun can reveal Hobsons Bay misses the most kerbside bins of any council in Victoria, while the City of Melbourne continues to charge the highest collection prices in the state by a considerable margin.

Hobsons Bay, which covers Williamstown and Altona, missed 22 bins per 10,000 households from 2020-21.

Similar councils missed an average of only seven bins during the same period.

The alarming figure is a significant increase on the council’s 2018-19 record of only six, raising doubts over whether it has been able to effectively manage its 2020 waste reform, where it introduced a weekly food and greens service on top of its fortnightly rubbish and recycling system.

The City of Melbourne imposes the dearest bin fees of any municipality in Victoria, with its recycling and rubbish rates totalling $526.65.

But the council says the cost reflects its five-day-per-week service, which it provides to multi-unit developments.

In the regions, the most expensive bin service title is held by Yarriambiack Shire, which it justifies through its near impeccable collection record of only 0.64 missed bins for every 10,000 households.

That figure is bettered by only two other councils in the state, with Glenelg (0.54) and Hindmarsh (0.09) the best performers.

The City of Melton is the top collector of all metro municipalities with a rate of just 0.94, closely followed by Yarra City and Glen Eira, which round out the podium at 1.12 and 1.51 respectively.

The City of Melton has the best collection rate in metropolitan Melbourne. Picture: John Grainger

Ratepayers Victoria spokesperson Verity Webb suggested council CEOs – as well as local MPs – were to blame for slack bin collection.

“The reason these problems never get fixed is because the CEOs blame the state government, and the state government blames the CEOs,” Ms Webb said.

“They’re both wasting a truckload of money on paperwork and politics.”

Ratepayers Victoria blames the disconnect between councils and local MPs for bin problems. John Grainger

Hobsons Bay Mayor Peter Hemphill said the council’s high rate of missing kerbside collection came after it introduced a new four-bin system in a bid to divert more waste from landfill.

“The simple fact is we provide more bins per household through our four-bin system compared to most other councils in Victoria so naturally we would expect to have a higher number of missed bins and therefore it is difficult to compare.

“The data for 2020-21 showed that we successfully diverted over 58 per cent of our waste away from landfill.

“It involved a big shift in community behaviour and was a learning curve for us all as we try to do our best to live more sustainably.”