Hobsons Bay City Council has released the findings of its one-year kerbside waste and recycling review with more than 6,000 responses. Eighty-six per cent of our households reported being satisfied overall with the four-bin service while also recommending key areas of improvement.
The four-bin waste and recycling service, which launched in February 2020, introduced significant change to Hobsons Bay’s kerbside waste service. The changes included introducing food organics and garden organics collections (FOGO) to all households, a new dedicated glass bin, revised frequency of general rubbish collections and accepting only items that have a local end market in the comingled recycling stream.
The review, which was conducted through a statistically representative phone survey of 500 residents and an opt-in survey sent to every household and ratepayer in Hobsons Bay, saw the majority of respondents report “good” to “very good” satisfaction levels with the overall service, the average rating being 7.4 out of 10.
In its first year, the kerbside waste and recycling service:
- reduced landfill by 33 per cent (7,000 tonnes)
- increased FOGO by 124 per cent (9,500 tonnes)
- increased comingled recycling by 11 per cent (once adjusted for glass)
- highlighted contamination issues in the comingled stream
- introduced a dedicated glass recycling stream, collecting 2,968 tonnes with contamination rates of less than 5 per cent
Tabled at the 29 June meeting, Councillors thanked the community for their feedback and agreed to:
- reinstate weekly general waste collections
- move to fortnightly FOGO collections
- extend the free garbage bin upsize for a period to be determined
- trial the use of compostable paper bags for FOGO for all households who opt in
Council also resolved to work with local businesses on more tailored options for their waste collection, including only utilising the bins they need, sharing bins with neighbouring businesses and considering stronger education and enforcement to ensure everyone is meeting their waste obligations.
Council will also explore initiatives to continue to reduce landfill volumes and increase disposal of food organics to meet the waste needs of households, while also minimising costs.
Over the coming months, Council will work to activate those changes to the service and will keep the community updated. Until then, it is business as usual with the current scheduled collections. To view the current waste calendar or online collection map, visit www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/recycling or download the Recycling 2.0 app, available from the App Store or Google Play.
Council’s four-bin kerbside waste and recycling service is aligned with new Victorian Government requirements and meets Council’s core objective to divert waste from landfill.
Quotes attributable to Mayor of Hobsons Bay Cr Jonathon Marsden
“The kerbside waste and recycling service has been one of, if not the biggest changes to a Council service in recent times and it has been a testament to the patience and dedication of our community and our waste team that has seen strong results in this annual review.
“It is clear the community can see the value in reducing landfill and being more accountable for our waste and recycling. And it isn’t going unnoticed either, with other councils also following our lead.
“Despite the overall positive feedback, like all change, there are areas that don’t suit everybody and for some Hobsons Bay residents, that has been the volume of the fortnightly general rubbish stream, and the smell and mess of adding loose food to food and garden waste bins.
“Council has amended the service to address these greatest pain points by returning to a weekly general rubbish collection and by piloting the use of paper bags in the food organics and garden organics compost stream.
“We are looking forward to working with our waste partners to make these changes to our offerings so that they better suit more individuals and families of Hobsons Bay.”
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