By Corey Everitt
Cardinia Shire Council has joined a wider effort to delay the rollout of the glass-only purple bin, calling for alternative measures that would prevent a large hike on rate bills.
The State Government has set July 2027 as the deadline for all councils to implement the purple bin as part of the new four-stream kerbside bin system.
As part of the reforms, households must split their waste between general waste, mixed recycling, food and garden waste, and glass recycling.
The recent council meeting on Monday 14 April revealed that over 20 Victorian councils, including Cardinia Shire, conducted independent modelling into the impact of the glass bin and the reported findings showed “limited benefits.”
Maintaining the additional bin could come at a $27 increase per household in their annual garbage charge, the modelling found.
According to the council, this would be “the largest increase to the garbage charge to date.”
Estimates showed that the implementation of the glass bin could be $2 million more for each council than was originally projected by the State Government’s modelling. The overall four-bin system could be $4 million more than projected.
“Our council officers are not comfortable with the proposal the State Government have offered,” Cr Paton said.
“We want to let the Victorian Government know that we are not satisfied that their scheme is affordable, we are not satisfied that their scheme is practical.”
The success of the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) in Victoria has provoked opposition to the glass bin as it’s widely believed to be an efficient and cheaper alternative if it’s expanded to accept glass.
Queensland has expanded its CDS to include glass, it’s reported to have seen a 13.4 per cent increase in glass bottles returned.
Research conducted by the councils said expanding the CDS would result in higher quality glass being recycled, negate the need for more garbage trucks on the roads and provide a more cost-effective solution.
The State Governments of South Australia and New South Wales have conducted their own modelling, which is reported to have reached similar conclusions in support of expanding their CDS.
Councillors also raised logistical concerns about each household managing more bins.
Cr Ross mentioned one local site of units that was designed to accommodate 12 bins and currently has 24 bins, which has caused issues for neighbouring households.
“So we are talking about increasing it to 36 bins, it’s horrible,” he said.
“These are the sort of things that need to be taken into consideration if you live in an urban area that wasn’t designed for these retrofit solutions.”
The motion was passed unanimously.
