All Victorians to Receive Additional Wheelie Bins, Which Industry Experts Say Will Enable Expanded Recycling Initiatives

All Victorian households will soon be supplied with additional wheelie bins to recycle a larger range of materials.

Waste Sense
Waste Sense

MELBOURNE, Australia - December 14, 2022 - (Newswire.com)

According to Waste Sense, leading provider of waste management services Melbourne-wide, glass is among the biggest contaminants in the recycling stream, while food waste makes up to 35% of rubbish sent to the tip, highlighting a need for better separation of waste.

Recently, Lily D'Ambrosio, the environment minister for Victoria, announced a brand new initiative as part of the state government's major recycling reform. The initiative will see Victorian households receiving four wheelie bins at home, allowing Victorians to recycle even more materials than ever before, including pizza boxes and soft plastics.

By 2030, all Victorian households will be able to use their existing yellow bin to dispose of soft plastics (plastic bags, food wrappers, bottle labels and more) and soiled or dirty food containers. For their traditional recycling, such as glass and aluminum, Victorians will be supplied with a new purple bin. Household rubbish will still go in a red bin, and the green bin will still be intended for food and garden waste.

Waste Sense explains the effort to separate waste is aimed at reducing recycling contamination - in Victoria, approximately 35% of waste intended for recycling ends up in landfill due to contamination. The recycling reforms, which were introduced in 2020, see the Victorian government aiming to divert 80% of landfill waste by 2030.

Various councils, including Central Goldfields, Hobsons Bay, Macedon Ranges and Whittlesea, have already implemented this change, with Frankston soon to follow in 2023. Over the next seven years, every Victorian council will be required to adopt the four-bin system.

Waste Sense says this is an exciting announcement in the wake of the shutdown of the REDcycle program, an initiative designed to recycle soft plastics. The program was paused indefinitely after authorities discovered soft plastics being hoarded in a warehouse rather than being recycled.

To discuss cost-effective and environmentally responsible solutions for waste management, Melbourne businesses can contact Waste Sense or visit their website today.