About our objectives
In this strategy, we will responsibly manage waste and work with our community to enhance environmental outcomes through three key objectives:
Objective 1: reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill
Landfills are designed for burying garbage. They are part of Victoria's waste management infrastructure, but they're the worst way of managing waste. Once something is in a landfill, its value is lost.
Right now, anything that's placed in a red-lidded bin or public garbage bin ends up in landfill. And approximately half of what's in our red-lidded bins shouldn't be there and in fact could be recycled. Meanwhile, the cost of sending garbage to landfill is increasing every year, and this cost is passed onto ratepayers.
For these environmental and financial reasons, we must reduce what we send to landfill.
Objective 2: increase the recovery of valuable resources
Increasing the recovery of resources is the opposite of sending stuff to landfill. It means recycling as much as we possibly can through our existing recycling services, while striving to continuously improve how we do things to recycle more. When we say recycling, we don't just mean the things we put in the yellow lidded bin - we mean the food that gets turned into compost, too.
Objective 3: provide a value for money service
This objective is about making sure our service runs as efficiently as possible to deliver value for residents and the broader community. This also means making sure that our services are priced in a way that's consistent and fair.
Strategy highlights
As our population grows, so too does the waste we generate - and the cost of managing it. This next strategy aims to minimise waste and deliver best practice waste management across our densely populated municipality.
Achieving our objectives over the next three years will require a range of actions, including the following.
To reduce waste to landfill, we will:
- strengthen litter management by introducing new procedures and enforcement officers
- develop our first Circular Economy Policy to guide Council and community
- introduce fortnightly garbage collection for houses and townhouses.
To increase the recovery of resources, we will:
- introduce a kerbside glass service for houses, townhouses, and select units and apartments
- improve convenience of existing and future communal glass hubs
- work with owners' corporations and real estate agents to improve waste habits among short-stay, student, international, and renter residents
- provide targeted and culturally appropriate resources and support to residents.
To provide a value for money service, we will:
- develop a waste charge policy that clearly explains service eligibility by property type
- review and update Council's Waste Management Planning Guidelines to ensure consistency and best practice for future developments
- review bin distribution and placement, especially in laneways and for apartments and unit blocks.
