Residents will start to receive their new green bins from next month as part of the roll out of Mildura Rural City Council's three-bin service.
The service will start on Monday 6 July, ushering in a new era in more sustainable waste management for the Mildura region.
Councillor for Environment and Farming Sustainability Anthony Cirillo said the introduction of the new service would not be interrupted by COVID-19.
"The existence of COVID-19 hasn't changed the benefits of the new three-bin service to our region," Cr Cirillo said.
"The new service will reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, increase the overall capacity of residents' kerbside bin service and provide the convenience of kerbside collection of food and garden waste.
"It will also provide residents with more options for the disposal of household waste, reducing the need for them to visit the Mildura Landfill."
Cr Cirillo said the main impact of COVID-19 on the three-bin service roll out was the planned community awareness program.
Instead of workshops and visits to schools, community groups, meetings and markets, Council is developing a range of online education programs, which will be announced in coming weeks.
"In the meantime, I encourage residents, many of whom are now spending a lot more time at home, to visit www.mildura.vic.gov.au/greenbin, where they'll find all the information they need about the new service," Cr Cirillo said.
"If residents or business owners have any questions about the new service they can also call Council to speak to one of our team.
"Correctly using each bin will be key to the success of our new service, both for residents at home, and from an operational perspective."
Residents and businesses will start receiving their new 240-litre green bin for food and garden organics from next month.
The delivery of green bins throughout May and June will include kitchen caddies and a supply of compostable bags to help dispose of organic waste.
Once the new service starts on 6 July, residents' green bins will be emptied weekly. Current rubbish and recycling bins will be emptied on alternate fortnights.
Cr Cirillo reiterated the benefits of the new service.
"On average, more than half of the material in our red bins, which will be known as 'landfill bins', is currently food and garden organics, which can be placed in the new, larger green bins," he said.
"If everyone in our region uses their green bin correctly, we can potentially cut the amount of waste we send to landfill by 39 per cent.
"We're not alone in looking to generate the environmental benefits of the three-bin system.
"Landfill should be our last option for waste disposal. Not only is it very expensive, landfilling is a huge environmental issue as it means resources are lost instead of being recycled.
"It's currently the most important waste management priority at local, state and national level."
