NORTHERN Grampians Shire Council has voted to proceed with glass recycling kerbside collection service.
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Legislative changes require council to consider the way it manages waste and items for recycling. Glass recycling options have been considered by council's waste services and the community has been consulted to assist with confirming a preferred option in managing glass.
The majority of the responses received from the community, including renters and ratepayers, preferred a kerbside collection service.
At Council's May meeting, Cr Erwin said the decision was a "step along the path" for recycling.
"We've had a very good response - over 700 people responded to the survey," he said.
"There was a few comments about wanting a green waste bin. That is on the cards later one.
"This is legislated by Victorian government to introduce new service."
In the supplied background from Council's meeting agenda it states on 25 October 2021, the Waste Team presented to councillors on options to consider with glass recycling such as future drop off or kerbside glass collections. Further research was requested and after further discussions with state agencies and surrounding councils, it was strongly recommended that Northern Grampians Shire Council proceed with the glass kerbside option.
"Initially, the capital cost will be slightly higher than drop-off, but kerbside would guarantee a locked fixed annual contract price, whilst drop-off costs will fluctuate due to associated problems of drop-off site cleanup (illegal dumping, broken glass) and undetermined collection schedule," it read.
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"DELWP announced that 85 per cent of capital costs would be covered for kerbside assets such as bins and lids. This will assist council as there is an estimated cost of $500,000 to purchase bins for both 240L FOGO and 120L waste bins and purple lids for the old waste bins. Swapping out the existing waste bins lids to purple will extend the life of the waste bin asset as well as a lower initial capital outlay to introduce a four-bin service."
Community engagement was provided on waste services via an online survey which was posted on council's website and advertised on social media council's Have your say page and in the Community Update.
From the survey a total of 757 responses with majority being residential owner/ratepayer (89 per cent) with 66 per cent from postcode 3380, 10 per cent from postcode 3478 and 62 per cent from other.
Currently an annual Waste Service Charge is set at $467 for 1 x 120L waste bin (weekly) and 1 x 240L recycling bin (fortnightly). To minimise the cost to ratepayers a 2 per cent increase will occur to cover the introduction of the glass bin in 2024-25 and continue to the introduction of food organics and garden organics services 2026-27. If glass is introduced earlier these increases will need to be forwarded to the introduction year of the services.
Analysis of the Waste Service Charges is being currently being undertaken and will continually be reviewed each year.
Waste service charges estimations are based on current contract pricing and are subject to change once new kerbside contracts are negotiated. Once new contract figures have been sought, revision of Waste Service Charges will occur.
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