Warrnambool City Council’s kerbside glass collection program is ready to begin.
About 3400 properties in two trial areas have had the lids on their 80L rubbish bins swapped from red to purple – becoming a glass-only bin.
At the same time, they received a new, larger, 140L rubbish bin.
Glass collections will begin in the first week of February and will coincide with the introduction of fortnightly rubbish collections in the trial areas.
The four-bin system means households will have their glass and recycling bins picked up from the first week of February, with their rubbish and FOGO bins collected the following week.
Glass collected will be crushed and re-used in road construction.
Warrnambool Mayor Tony Herbert said that a move to a four-bin kerbside system had the potential to reduce the Municipal Waste Charge for each property by about $10 annually.
“We now know that having glass, cardboard and paper in the same bin creates too many contamination issues,” Cr Herbert said.
“It’s expensive to separate these items and when glass breaks and embeds in paper or cardboard, it means that these materials – which are otherwise recyclable – can end up in landfill.
“As well as obviously being a poor environmental outcome, sending material to landfill is expensive because of the Victorian Government’s landfill levy.”
Cr Herbert said that responses to a public survey in 2019 helped Council reach its decision.
“The community recognised that something had to be done about glass,” he said.
“The most popular survey response was the introduction of a kerbside glass collection alongside a larger rubbish bin that is collected fortnightly.
“This means that there are the same number of ‘bin lifts’ and truck movements but with an improved recycling outcome.
“The separate glass collection continues the significant steps made in recent years to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill.
“Before the introduction of FOGO, the average bin contained 40 per cent organic material and this material was being sent to landfill.
“The organic material is now being placed in FOGO bins which has freed up space in red-lidded landfill bins.
“And for residents worried about how nappies might smell after two weeks in the bin, research carried out by the Lake Macquarie City Council reveals odours do not significantly change between one week and two weeks.”
The kerbside glass collection will be supplemented with bottle banks at Bunnings, the Dennington Shopping Centre and Norfolk Plaza. These will accept all household glass.
“The bottle banks allow anyone who isn’t currently part of the kerbside glass collection trial to begin separating their glass straight away,” Cr Herbert said.
“The new four-bin system and the bottle banks are a trial. We will use this effort to gather information about how people use the service and how it might be improved.”
Residents with questions about the rollout can call Council on 5559 4800 or click here
