Rethinking our recycling and waste collections | ourballarat summer 2022-23
By 2030, all households in Victoria will have access to the same waste and recycling services, separating their waste and recycling into four streams - food organics and garden organics (FOGO), glass, mixed recycling and household waste. The City of Ballarat is asking you to have your say to help us shape the future of our kerbside waste and recycling collections.
The City of Ballarat is mapping out a plan for households to move to a new waste and recycling system.
Under the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, all Victorian councils must introduce a FOGO collection for all households by 2030 and a separate glass recycling collection by 2027.
The City of Ballarat is now reviewing its kerbside collections and would like to first hear feedback from our community.
We are asking you to have your say via a survey. Your feedback will help guide future decision-making and planning on kerbside services through our Draft Kerbside Transition Plan.
The draft plan will take into consideration the range of services you would like to see, while also considering the frequency, convenience and cost effectiveness of kerbside collections.
Food organics and garden organics
A combined FOGO collection will be introduced under the changes.
More than 24,000 tonnes of waste were sent to landfill in the 2021-2022 financial year from 49,103 homes. On average, food organics makes up about 42 per cent of waste going to landfill.
Coordinator Circular Economy Siobhan Dent says keeping food waste, including fruit and vegetable scraps, meat, bones, seafood and eggshells, out of landfill is one of the most simple and effective things we can do for our environment.
“Just like garden waste in landfill, food waste creates methane as it breaks down which contributes to global warming,” Siobhan says.
“Repurposing food waste with garden waste will divert waste from landfill and help the environment. It can be transformed into compost – which means it’s being recycled into something new that can be used.”
Glass collections
The City of Ballarat moved to separate glass from mixed recycling in 2019, introducing a Pass on Glass system.
Under this system, residents stopped adding glass to their yellow-lid recycling bins, instead taking their glass to dropoff sites.
The system to separate glass has received a high up-take from our community - with 3,860 tonnes of glass jars and bottles recycled by local companies since its inception.
On average, glass now makes up just three per cent of household waste going to landfill.
The survey asks whether the community would prefer to keep the existing Pass on Glass model or move to the introduction of a purple-lid bin for glass kerbside collection.
The State Government is now considering Service Standards which may mandate the provision of kerbside glass collection.
Have your say
City of Ballarat Executive Manager Waste and Environment Les Stokes says understanding what the community wants from our waste and recycling kerbside collection will enable the City of Ballarat to tailor a solution that meets most people’s needs.
“How we sort our waste and recycling affects almost every single person in Ballarat. It impacts every household, every day, multiple times a day," Les says.
“We encourage everyone to have their say to help us deliver an improved kerbside collection that will enable everyone to better manage their recycling and waste while minimising our environmental footprint.”
Residents can pick-up a survey at City of Ballarat sites, including Customer Service and at Ballarat Libraries.
You can also complete the survey online at mysay.ballarat.vic.gov.au.
The survey closes 18 December 2022.
At a glance
Feedback from the survey will inform the Draft Kerbside Transition Plan.
The plan will consider whether residents would like to keep the existing Pass on Glass system or move to a new purple-lid bin for glass kerbside collection.
The plan will also consider a combined FOGO collection, using the green waste bin.
The plan will not include an assessment of other waste service options such as a hard rubbish collection.
This will be considered separately as part of a review of the City of Ballarat’s Resource Recovery and Waste Management Strategy in 2023.
Next steps
The Draft Kerbside Transition Plan will go before Council for consideration early next year.
If endorsed, the draft plan will then go out for additional community consultation before the final Kerbside Transition Plan is presented to Council.
Once adopted, the City of Ballarat will prepare a timeline for the introduction of the four waste and recycling stream collection service.
City of Ballarat Council Plan Alignment
The projects, initiatives, and ideas in this article align with the following goals of the City of Ballarat Council Plan 2021-2025:
Goal 1
An environmentally sustainable future