In February 2020, as part of a plan to reduce waste going to landfill by 80% over the next decade, the Victorian State Government announced a container deposit scheme and a new ‘fourth bin’ for households.
The four bins would be:
- glass recycling – purple lid
- food and garden organics – green lid
- plastic, metal and paper recycling – yellow lid
- household waste – red lid
The change provides a separate bin for glass (for more efficient and effective recycling) and is planned to be rolled out in 2021, as existing collection contracts end.
The State Government also announced that it would make waste collection an essential service with a dedicated Authority to better govern the recycling system.
For planning permit applicants, this means additional bins to plan for when designing proposals for new buildings and extensions. The likely impact on your projects is that additional space will be required to be set aside for on-site bin storage and on nature strips, for collection day.
Existing applicants should be aware that current planning permit applications, particularly larger multi-unit residential development and apartment buildings, may be required to increase the space currently allocated for bin storage and collection.
The Government’s announcement to make waste collection an essential service may curb the trend of Councils forcing applicants to rely on private collection services.