Thousands of Melbourne residents will be expected to take their glass rubbish to communal drop-off points when councils begin rolling out Victoria’s new four-bin system this year.
At least one bayside council will not provide any residents with purple-top bins for glass recycling and instead rely entirely on public drop-off points.
Reduce, recycle, re-puce: The new purple-top bin will be for glass recycling.Credit:Jason South
Most Victorian households will have four separate rubbish bins by 2030 as part of the Andrews government’s biggest recycling overhaul in the state’s history.
The new purple-top bin will be for glass recycling. The red-lid bin will be for general household waste; yellow for plastic, metal and paper; and green for food and garden organics.
But not all properties, particularly apartment complexes, will have room to accommodate all four bins.
Port Phillip Council, which takes in suburbs including Albert Park, Balaclava, Elwood, Port Melbourne and St Kilda in the city’s inner-south, will not provide purple-top glass recycling bins for individual households or apartment complexes.
Mayor Heather Cunsolo said an eight-month trial of glass recycling bins and communal drop-off points in 2020 showed residents preferred to use the latter.
During the trial, 42 per cent of glass waste bins were put out for collection each fortnight, and bins that were placed out were only a quarter full.
Seventy per cent of the total volume of glass collected during the trial was picked up from the communal bins.
“Port Phillip is a high-density municipality and one where many properties simply cannot accommodate a four-bin system,” Cunsolo said.
“Our glass trial showed that providing a third bin for glass recycling was not a cost-effective option for our community.”
Port Phillip Council plans to set up 80 drop-off locations over the next six months.
The majority of residents in the Merri-bek council area, in suburbs including Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner, Glenroy, Oak Park and Pascoe Vale, will receive their purple-top glass bins in April and May, with the council to begin a monthly glass collection from July 1.
But about 1700 households may need to use drop-off points instead of shared or individual purple bins, the council said. Those residents will be informed from April.
Merri-bek Mayor Angelica Panopoulos said the council plans to set up glass drop-off points in 11 different residential precincts.
“We appreciate that not all properties have space to add a glass recycling bin,” Panopoulos said.
“To enable access to the four-stream waste service, some residents living in higher density properties will share bins, and some will need to take their glass to a communal drop-off point in their precinct.”
Broken glass is among the biggest contaminants in the recycling stream, according to a report by Infrastructure Victoria. Glass put in the same bin as paper, cardboard and plastics can contaminate an entire recycling load. The glass splinters not only render other materials useless but interfere with machinery.
Australian Council of Recycling chief executive Suzanne Toumbourou said it was often a struggle to find the perfect balance between creating good recycling collection points and ensuring different waste items were properly separated.
“I’d encourage councils to do their best to support separation at the source in ways that are harmonised around the state,” she said.
“People don’t want to waste … they want to support recycling systems, so that will also be up to councils making sure there is good access available.”
Disability Resources Centre executive Greg Ferrington said some people with disabilities would find using communal drop-off points for glass particularly challenging.
“If your tram line doesn’t go near that communal drop-off spot, that’s the first issue that comes to mind,” he said.
Ferrington said without more accessible options, those with disabilities would have no choice but to cross-contaminate their waste streams.
The state government will introduce its container deposit scheme later this year. Under the scheme, Victorians will receive a 10-cent refund for eligible glass bottles, along with cans and cartons.
With Ashleigh McMillan
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