Victorian councils warn of rate hike for new four-bin system
Victorian ratepayers may face increased waste charges as councils try to figure out how to pay to pick up four bins, with concerns also mounting that collections could be reduced to fortnightly.
VIC News
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Councils warn they may increase charges to cover the cost of collecting four bins required by an Andrews Government overhaul of the state’s recycling system.
While annual rate increases are capped, the government does not enforce limits on how much councils can charge to collect rubbish and Premier Daniel Andrews concedes costs may increase as a result of the reforms.
The Herald Sun on Tuesday contacted all 79 councils to see whether they would increase rates in response to the recycling overhaul, and whether they would collect household waste bins weekly or fortnightly.
Many local governments said those decisions would be made in coming months — with glass recycling bins to be rolled out to more than 40 council areas next year — but several suggested ratepayers would face higher charges.
Yarra, Hobsons Bay and Macedon Ranges have already moved on the four-bin system and decided to cut back household waste collection to once a fortnight.
Yarriambiack Shire Council chief Jessie Holmes told the Herald Sun her council would request to be excluded from the overhaul “as we are a large geographical area and a small population”.
Swan Hill said it was “likely that price will increase as costs are also increasing”, while Southern Grampians Shire chief Michael Tudball said the extra services would ultimately cost users.
“It is unclear at this stage what support will be provided by state government to implement these measures in the first instance and from where this funding will come from,” he said.
Mitchell Shire and the City of Ballarat also acknowledged costs would rise to cover additional recycling services, but Warrnambool Mayor Tony Herbert said the four-bin system could reduce waste charges by $10 per property per year.
Mr Andrews said he could not “rule out that there may be some increase” and vowed to work with councils “to try and minimise those”.
“Unless we intervene, the price of dealing with this is only going up and up ... In the long run, any extra cost I think will be far less than it would be if we didn’t act,” he said.
Mr Andrews said costs may not increase if bins were collected less frequently — but reiterated that he expected councils would collect household waste bins every week.
Opposition local government spokesman Tim Smith said councils had indicated to him that “Labor’s four-bin plan will add tremendous complexity and cost to waste collection that will be passed on to Victorian families”.
In Yarra, a four-bin system will be rolled out in July, with food and green waste collected weekly and garbage, recycling and glass bins picked up fortnightly. Mayor Misha Coleman said the council was waiting to see if the government would help cover the costs of the four-bin rollout.
Macedon Ranges Residents Association spokeswoman Christine Pruneau said residents had experienced “a few teething problems” with four bins but that “it seems to be getting into a groove now”.
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