Baw Baw Shire plans for major waste and recycling reforms
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Published on 21 December 2020
Food scraps into weekly green waste collections, fortnightly rubbish bin collections, glass recycling and new bin lid colours are key changes identified in the Baw Baw Shire Council Draft Waste Management Plan 2020-2025.
Council endorsed the draft plan at its meeting last Wednesday and is encouraging the community to share their views during the consultation period.
The draft plan reflects the changes outlined in the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria: a new economy policy and 10-year action plan, which was released in February 2020.
The Recycling Victoria policy outlines a range of measures to move towards a circular economy by reducing waste and pollution, improving recycling and creating more jobs.
To accommodate the new waste services outlined in Recycling Victoria, Council has undertaken extensive transition planning this year to inform the development of the draft WMP.
The draft WMP identifies how Council can implement the following changes required as part of Recycling Victoria:
The provision of food organics and garden organics (FOGO) kerbside collection services by 2030. The provision of a separate recovery systems for glass (currently included in the kerbside commingled recycling service) by 2027. Upgrading kerbside bin lids to ensure they are consistent with colours specified in Recycling Victoria.The Victorian Government is also introducing a Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) in 2022/23.
This will result in community members being able to recycle their bottles and cans at local glass drop-off locations to receive a refund. How the community engage with the CDS service will ultimately influence which service Council decides to introduce.
The draft WMP covers all other aspects of the waste services that Council provides to the community, including:
During December and January Council will host a range of community engagement activities across the Shire to share information about the draft plan, listen to your feedback and ideas and answer any questions.
For more information about the draft Waste Management Plan, please visit the Council website at www.bawbawshire.vic.gov.au/HaveYourSay and provide your feedback before 5 February 2020.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Cr Danny Goss
“The draft Baw Baw Shire Council Waste Management Plan is a comprehensive guide to how Council delivers this essential service. Over the next five years our community can expect to see some major changes to how this service operates, so it is crucial to get your feedback now so we can ensure that we’re meeting your needs in the future.”
Quotes attributable to Deputy Mayor Cr Michael Leaney
“This is an opportunity for the community to tell us how they’d like Council to deliver the changes outlined in the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria policy. Although there will be initial costs involved in establishing these new measures, they will result in less waste going to landfill, which reduces the landfill levies that Council has to fund and ultimately creates long-term savings for our residents.”
Quotes attributable to West Ward Cr Ben Lucas
“Environment is important to our younger demographic and this is why the initiatives outlined in this plan need our support. Many Councils across Victoria have already implemented the four-bin FOGO system and it’s proven to be effective in diverting waste from landfill. The plan sets a number of ambitious targets that will provide long-term benefits to our environment and better manage our resources.”
Quotes attributable to West Ward Cr Tricia Jones
“Managing waste has been ongoing issue highlighted by the fact that we can no longer dump our rubbish in other countries. State and Federal Governments have realised that our waste is our problem and we must solve it. As a Council, we have had this plan on hold while Recycling Victoria was released and have designed it to respond to these changes. I encourage the community to find out more about the draft plan and share their feedback.”
Quotes attributable to Central Ward Cr Jazmin Tauru
“Waste management is a huge issue that we all need to act on before it’s too late. We live in a world today where the amount of waste going to landfill is reaching shocking levels, and we need to act now to stop this and preserve our planet for future generations. It will be exciting to see the container deposit scheme introduced here in the future, which will be a great way to help the younger members of the community learn the value of recycling.”
Quotes attributed to East Ward Cr Peter Kostos
“We know that a significant amount of the waste that ends up in landfill is food organics, so we need to do whatever we can to move away from doing that. Once the consultation for this plan is complete and the final version is adopted by Council, we will work with our community to implement these important changes over the coming years to ensure that we can all do our bit to reduce waste.”