“Money down the drain”: Southern Grampians latest council to bin rubbish mandate

Southern Grampians Shire has defied a looming state government deadline for glass-only kerbside bins, saying ratepayers should not have to fork out $1 million for a system that has yet to be properly defined.

What happened: Last Tuesday, councillors unanimously backed a motion to delay a fourth bin service until the state releases more information. It also advised the government the shire will not meet the July 2027 deadline.

• The motion called on the state to scrap the mandate altogether.

What’s going on? The Victorian Government has directed all councils to introduce a four-bin kerbside system by July 1 next year, adding a dedicated glass bin to existing rubbish, recycling and food and garden organics (FOGO) services.

• The mandate is part of a broader push to divert 80 percent of waste from landfill by 2030.

• But the rollout has faced growing resistance in regional areas. More than 30 councils across the state say the system is too costly and logistically complex.

There is already a Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), which allows residents to return eligible drink containers, including glass bottles, for a 10-cent refund at designated collection points.

• Director of Infrastructure and Sustainability Marg Scanlon said uptake of the CDS had reduced the amount of glass entering kerbside recycling, raising questions about the need for a separate bin service.

Why do we need glass bins? When glass is recycled separately from other materials like paper or cardboard, it reduces the risk of broken shards of glass contaminating the other items in the bin. Cross contamination can lead to glass and cardboard ending up in landfill.

• It also makes it easier to recycle shards of glass, which reduces the need to rely on natural resources such as sand to create more glass products. 

“Money down the drain”: Scanlon told the chamber the proposal would cost the council $1 million up front and $150,000 a year ongoing.

• This would add about $140 per property and lift next financial year’s projected waste service rate to about $570 to cover the bins’ purchase and rollout.

🗣️“[It] would be a significant financial impost, not only to council, but to residents themselves,” she said.

• Councillors were sharply critical of the state’s approach, particularly the lack of detail around how the service would operate.

🗣️“The average constituent would see this as a lot of money gone down the drain through wages dealing with this when we've got no standards, but they want to mandate it,” Councillor Adam Campbell said.

• Councillor Helen Henry said any future standards needed to reflect the realities of rural and regional Victoria, including longer transport distances and lower waste volumes.

What’s next? Council staff told the chamber they had been advised standards were “imminent” for months, but no detailed guidance had been released, leaving key questions, including costs per household for the new bins, unresolved.

Header image: James Ross, AAP