A report on reverting back to weekly red general rubbish bin collections and the costs associated with this is set to come back to a future Council Meeting following a Notice of Motion raised by Central Ward Councillor Danny Goss at today’s Council Meeting.
The Notice of Motion, raised by Cr Danny Goss at the Council Meeting, requests Council Officers to provide a report that will investigate the costs and implications of returning to a weekly collection of the red general rubbish bin in Baw Baw Shire.
The Officer report, called for in the Notice of Motion, considers the red bin frequency by examining the options, implications and costs associated with reverting to weekly red-bin collections.
Cr Goss raised the Notice of Motion in response to community feedback received after the change in frequency of collection for the red general rubbish bin and green Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) bin, which coincided with the introduction of the FOGO program.
A petition, with 6139 signatories (3997 of which are from Baw Baw Shire), in support of reverting back to a weekly red general rubbish bin collection was also tabled at the Council Meeting.
In July this year, Council introduced FOGO. Under this new program, residents are now required to place their food scraps in the green FOGO bin alongside their garden clippings. A Special Consideration Program (SCP) was also introduced to provide support, for those with exceptional waste needs, following this change.
Baw Baw Shire Mayor Councillor Kate Wilson said Council would await the report before making any final decisions on the possibilities of changing the program.
“The FOGO program is a critical program and is mandated by the State Government via its new standardised household waste and recycling system. It seeks to divert more waste away from landfill and create better recycling outcomes across Victoria.
“The amount of waste we currently send to landfill is unsustainable, so we’re trying to strike a balance between moving towards a circular economy and reducing landfill waste, while still providing solutions for our residents with extenuating additional waste circumstances.”
According to waste audits undertaken by Baw Baw Shire, more than half of the waste found in Baw Baw’s average red general rubbish bin is made up of food scraps (39%), garden organics (4%) glass recycling (1%) or mixed recycling (9%).
Council undertook audits in September 2023 and in June 2026 and will undertake another one this financial year, in mid-2027.
Over the past eight years, while the Victorian Government’s EPA Landfill Levy has nearly tripled since 2019, from $65.90 to $177.19 per tonne, the waste charge paid by residents has increased by 51%. With EPA landfill levies continuing to increase, diverting even 25% of waste away from landfill is estimated to save the community more than $1 million each year, helping to keep future waste costs down.
Councillor Goss said this was the largest petition Council had received, which showed there was community concern about this matter that Council could not ignore.
“These signatures hold a lot of weight and we will wait for the report to return to Council and make our decision following that,” Cr Goss said.
“I support FOGO and our attempts at reducing the amount of rubbish we send to landfill. It is the change in frequency of the red rubbish bins that our community has concerns with and we cannot ignore them.
“This is why I am keen to further explore this and have called for the report to return to Council with all of the information we need to make an informed next decision.”
