Green waste bin service coming to rural areas

THE City of Greater Bendigo is extending organic waste collection to all rural households.

Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said about 5500 homes would gain an extra bin in November.

“The City’s organic waste service has been successfully operating in urban areas of Greater Bendigo since September 2016,” she said.

“In more recent years the service has been further extended to the townships of Heathcote, Elmore, Goornong and Axedale and it is now time to provide an organics collection service for all remaining rural households in Greater Bendigo.

Cr Metcalf said there would be no costs to householders before the beginning of next July.

“Charges for the service will only commence in the 2024/25 financial year,” she said.

“Once the rural residents have utilised the organics service for six months, they will be able to apply for an exemption in May 2024 if they can demonstrate the ability to manage their organic waste.

“The City will deliver a new organics kerbside bin, a kitchen caddy and a roll of compostable caddy liners along with a range of information to all rural households.

“Initially the new organic rural collections will be fortnightly on the opposite week to their recycling collection.”

From February this will change to weekly, with general waste bins emptied fortnightly.

Cr Metcalf said these changes were the result of a 2022 review which found that 46 per cent of rubbish going to landfill should have been in either the recycling or the organics bin, of this 28 per cent was organic food and garden waste.

“By making the switch to when general waste and organics bins are collected, the City’s aim is to reduce the amount of general waste being collected and stop about 7000 tonnes of organic material and 4500 tonnes of recyclable material per year from going to landfill,” she said.

These changes are in line with State Government’s kerbside reforms and are part of the Recycling Victoria: A new economy plan, which seeks to reduce waste and create reliable recycling systems.