Macedon Ranges Shire Council wins award for innovative four-bin system

Published on 31 October 2022

Council has won an award for its innovative Four Bin System (Let’s get sorted) at the Waste and Innovation Recycling Awards held in Melbourne last week.

The initiative won the regional category of most Outstanding WARR (Waste and Resource Recovery) Project, which is awarded to a project that has delivered cost-effective and high-impact success in its targeted field.

Council was one of the first councils in Victoria to introduce the four-bin waste and recycling system in February 2020.

The household kerbside service consists of four colour-coded bins for residents to sort their waste into; yellow for Recycling; green for FOGO—food and garden organics; red for General Waste, and purple for Glass only. Each bin also includes infographics to help identify what waste goes where.

Mayor, Cr Jennifer Anderson was thrilled with the award and said Council had been working hard to get the message out to the community about reducing waste to landfill and providing the resources needed to support it.

“We have already seen a significant change in the way our residents are both considering the refuse, reduce, reuse and repair mentality. When they do need to dispose of items they have embraced the kerbside four-bin system to maximise recycling, significantly reducing the amount of material going to landfill,” she said.

The shire has also implemented the recycling system at Hanging Rock Reserve, a major tourist destination and event space for the Macedon Ranges, to encourage visitors to think about how they dispose of waste and help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Within two years of the four-bin roll-out, Macedon Ranges Shire Council has achieved the highest diversion of resources from landfill of any council in Victoria since the system was introduced—with a 74% diversion rate.

It was also one of the first councils in Australia to introduce a separate kerbside glass bin collection service. Since its implementation, more than 4,689 tonnes of glass has been recycled.

Find out more: Council's four-bin recycling system