Yarra welcomes Victorian Government commitment to transform recycling

Yarra City Council welcomes the State Government announcement today of a 10-year plan to transform recycling in Victoria by introducing, in partnership with councils, a new approach to household recycling.

“We are very pleased that the State Government has acknowledged the need to overhaul the way waste and recycling is managed.

“The newly announced Victorian model reflects the key elements of the innovative trial that Yarra Council began trialling in June last year: an innovative 4-bin kerbside collection service. And just last week, we committed to rolling that out across the whole Yarra municipality”.

“Our trial demonstrated a sustainable and replicable model for kerbside waste and recycling collection and processing. We have been sharing the results from our trial and the lessons we have learnt along the way with the State Government and look forward to continuing to work closely with them as they confirm the details of the state-wide changes.”

The Abbotsford holistic waste trial has seen a dramatic reduction in waste going to landfill, with approximately 60% of household waste diverted from landfill. Other benefits of this new system include a substantial increase in the quality of recyclable materials which can be processed and re-used locally, and very significant reductions in truck movements, which will reduce vehicle emissions.

“We made a commitment to fundamentally change our kerbside collection because recycling in Australia is in crisis. It’s time we did things very, very differently and councils and communities like ours are providing the leadership to drive change in this industry,” said Cr Coleman.

The changes in Yarra will come into effect from July 2020.

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