Council was presented with figures at its meeting in Stawell last week that outlined the economic savings and environmental benefits.

The figures show that during the first year of the kerbside waste and recycling service, council has recorded a 22.5 per cent reduction in waste to landfill, which is equivalent to a saving of 685 tonnes.

Mayor Cr Kevin Erwin said residents had adapted well to the new contracts and the changeover to 120 litre waste bins.

"Council congratulates the community for adjusting to the change in bin size and taking responsibility for the waste they generate," he said.

"The data we have collected over the past 12 months shows that residents are becoming increasingly mindful of their household waste and in turn, recycling a lot more.

"Even more encouraging is the fact that more people are now separating their recyclables and taking items such as electronics and scrap metal to the transfer station."

Cr Erwin said despite an increase in landfill fees imposed on council, the new kerbside waste and recycling service had saved ratepayers more than $13,000 in the past year alone.

"While some residents struggled with the smaller bins in the beginning, many have been surprised by how much of what they previously put into the garbage can actually be recycled.

"As well as having a positive impact on the environment, the changes have led to savings being passed on to our ratepayers, which is a win-win situation."

Cr Erwin said the results were more impressive than first expected when the new waste service was introduced.

"It was a difficult job and nobody likes change, but sometimes, you just have to stay on the path," he said.

"History will tell you now that we probably we achieved a little better than we first anticipated.

"It does take a bit of metal to stay on the path sometimes, but these figures really do prove a point."

Cr Karen Hyslop said she was pleased to accept the report on the first 12 months of the new service.

"The report shows that there has been a massive reduction in waste and an increase in recycling," Cr Hyslop said.

"When I first came on council, this was quite a contentious issue. There was a lot of discussion about it, but it's obvious we have gone down the right path, as the figures show for themselves.

"The changeover from 240 waste litre waste bins to 120 litre bins has seen a 22.5 percent reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill and that's what it is all about. If we can get less waste to landfill and have more recycling, it helps our environment."

Cr Murray Emerson said it was always going to be a nervous first 12 months for the new waste service.

"Twelve months ago, we had quite a dilemma over the waste situation when we first came to council," Cr Emerson said.

"As new councillors, we really took a bit of a hammering as to whether we were doing the right thing, whether we were spending the community's money responsibly.

"I think as it has turned out, it has achieved exactly what we thought it would achieve and the angst that we went through was well worth putting up with, when 12 months down the track, we can see it has done exactly what we wanted it to do, a very large saving to waste going to landfill.

"That's only the first part of it. In the next couple of years we will hopefully achieve some of the other anticipated ideas we had leading into this."