The Waste Management Strategy drives Council’s waste services.

The main objective of the last Waste Management Plan (2014 – 2021) was to reduce waste to landfill and increasing recovery and re-use of waste items.

A lot has changed in the waste sector at a Federal and State level since the current Plan was developed, and a new Waste Management Strategy needs to be prepared. The new Strategy will guide Council on introducing mandated changes to Council kerbside services, reducing volumes of waste being sent to landfill and meeting State and Federal targets to reduce waste and move towards a more circular economy.

Feedback from this consultation will be used to draft the Knox Waste Strategy. It will inform planning and priorities for individual waste services, and inform Council on how to best support residents through the changes to kerbside services.

On average Knox households produce:

• over 28,000 tonnes of rubbish each year, which is sent to landfill.
• 15,500 tonnes of material for recycling each year, including plastics, paper, glass.
• over 20,000 tonnes of green waste (bundled branches, grass clippings, leaves ) each year.

Each year approximately 230 tonnes of rubbish and 70 tonnes of recycling is collected from over 800 public place rubbish and recycling bins.

Last year 32,300 hard waste bookings were made in Knox with over 7,500 tonnes of material collected. Of that as much hard waste as possible is diverted from landfill, including 12,500 mattresses.

Recycling Victoria Policy, released in early 2020, mandated changes to Council collection services to cut waste and boost recycling and reuse of our precious resources including:

• Standardisation of bin lid colours to Australian standards
• Introduction of a combined food and garden organics service
• Introduction of an additional bin for glass only
• Introduction of a Container Deposit Scheme

The Policy is supported by the Waste Act passed by the Victorian Government, including laws to underpin the new changes.

State Government aims to:

• Divert 80% of waste from landfill by 2030, aiming for 72% by 2025
• Cut total waste generation by 15% per person by 2025
• Halve volume organic material going to landfill between 2020 and 2030, aiming for 20% reduction by 2025
• Ensure every Victorian household has access to food and garden organic services (food and garden waste) or local composting by 2030.

What has changed in waste recently nationally and internationally?

China has been enforcing stricter standards and banned imports of specific materials. This has impacted global markets for recyclable material.

The National Recycling and Waste Reduction Act establishing a framework to regulate the export of waste material. This includes bans on the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres.

The State Government Recycling Victoria policy requires Council to standardise our bin lid colours to Australian Standards. This is aimed to reduce confusion between different Council areas in Victoria. In Knox that means

• yellow lidded rubbish bin will change to a red lid
• blue lidded recycling bin will change to a yellow lid
• red lidded green waste bin will change to a light green lid

These changes will happen over time, starting with a change to the green waste bin in the first half of 2023.

The old lids will be recycled once they are removed.

Separate glass recycling service

By 2027, State Government requires all Councils to provide a separate glass collection service.

During the collection and processing of recycling bins glass is likely to break, and lodge into other recyclable material such as paper and cardboard. When this happens it reduces the quality and value of these materials.

Separating out glass will improve the quality of material in the recycling bin and provide higher quality recycled glass to be re-used or included in other products including roads and footpaths.

We have not decided how this service will operate. Once the container deposit scheme has started we will have a better idea how much glass will be left to be collected.

Options to deliver this mandatory service include either

• A new separate glass bin at each property which would require a new bin and a new collection service
• Drop off points located within the municipality where you would need to drop off your glass

Container Deposit Scheme

The State Government will be introducing a container deposit scheme (separate to a household glass collection service) starting in 2023. It will allow for the return of cans, bottles and cartons to a collection point for a cash refund to increase recycling and reduce litter.

The State Government will design this service.

The waste management hierarchy lists a preferred order for managing waste. Avoidance is the best option, and sending waste to landfill is the least preferred option. The hierarchy includes, in order of preference:

1. Avoid and reduce waste
2. Reduce waste
3. Recycle waste
4. Recover energy
5. Treat waste
6. Dispose of waste

The last landfill in our region will close in the next few years. Council is working with other local councils and State Government to work with the industry for a smarter way to deal with household rubbish.

The project is looking at advanced waste processing as a vital alternative to landfill by putting rubbish to good use instead of burying it in the ground.

This will play a significant part in achieving a target set out in the recycling Victoria policy to divert 80% of waste from landfill by 2030.

What is advanced waste processing?

This initiative uses two main methods to process household rubbish:

Waste to energy – uses energy from waste to produce electricity, heat or gas

Advanced sorting and separation – extracts hard recyclables (such as metals) and treats food and garden waste to reduce the amount of organic material sent to landfill.

Advanced waste processing facilities are being used around the world including in the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. The facilities are highly regulated and designed to meet strict emission standards.

Any future advanced waste processing facility in Victoria would be regulated by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA).

Find out more about the advanced waste processing project.

The cost of collecting and processing Council waste continues to increase

To run the waste service Council engages contractors who:

• Collect and process rubbish, recycling and garden waste from your homes, businesses and public litter bins on a regular schedule
• Collect and process hard rubbish when booked
• Operate the Transfer Station (tip/depot)

Rubbish and recycling contractors are charging more to collect and dispose of rubbish. Mainly because there is an increase in utilities, and other things like fuel.

Council also needs to pay a fee to dispose of rubbish to landfill. The Victorian Government charges an additional levy on top of a gate fee, for all waste disposed to landfill. The purpose of the levy is to encourage waste reduction and diversion, and fund programs to improve waste management. The levy on household waste has increased from $26.60 per tonne in 2013/14 to $125.90 per tonne in 2022/23.

To prepare for the changes in your waste service Councils will need to purchase new infrastructure, and source new service contracts to deliver the changes required in the Policy which also results in increasing costs for the service

Council currently offers a discount or a rebate on composting equipment saving residents up to 60 per cent off a compost bin, worm farm or bokashi bin and cut your waste in half. You can find out more information on the compost rebate on Council's website.

We are also looking at ways to support parents who would like to use reusable nappies and further reduce waste going to landfill. Earlier this year Knox was a part of a reusable nappy study, once the report is finalised a recommended model will be advised for councils to adopt.

Currently 43% of Knox’s rubbish that goes to landfill is food. When food scraps break down in landfill it creates methane gas which contributes to climate change.

We are introducing food waste into the green waste bin as not everyone has the capacity to compost at home, and not all food waste can be composted.

Introducing food waste within the green waste bin will allow items such as meat, fish & dairy to be diverted from landfill that commonly can’t be composted.

Our community has told us that reducing our impact on the environment is important. When turned into compost, food waste is much less damaging to our environment.

A key direction in the Community and Council Plan 2021-2031 is for Knox to reduce waste by implementing a food and garden bin service across Knox.

The food and garden bin, with most of the stinky stuff, will be collected weekly and your rubbish bin will be collected fortnightly from 3 July 2023.

The recycling bin will continue to be collected fortnightly.

Additional support and service options will be available for larger households or those with specific needs such as children in nappies, people using incontinence aids and households with large amounts of medical waste.

Why are we making this change?

Many other Councils are already collecting food scraps with garden waste.

Evidence from these councils tells us a weekly collection of the smelliest items such as food is best done weekly to keep food out of landfill.

Additional support and service options will be available for larger households or those with specific needs such as children in nappies, people using incontinence aids and households with large amounts of medical waste.

You can read the Council report and meeting minutes for more information on the decision to change the collection frequency. The information is on pages 252 – 259.

We know this is a big change. It won’t happen until next year so there is time to be prepared.

Between March and June next year all homes will receive:

• A kitchen caddy for the scraps
• A year’s supply of compostable caddy liners (green)
• Information to help you use the new service
• A new lime green lid on your garden waste bin or a new Food and Garden bin (if you don’t currently have the garden waste service).

Disposable nappies and sanitary waste must be put in the garbage bin, even if they are labelled compostable or biodegradable. Nappies and sanitary waste should always be wrapped in a bag before being placed in the garbage bin.

Additional support and service options will be available for larger households or those with specific needs, such as children in nappies, people using incontinence aids and households with large amounts of medical waste.

We want to understand what additional support and service options you may need and how we can support you. You can share your feedback through the survey or come to a pop up to chat with the team.

We will be holding two focus groups to have detailed discussions with people. Find out more and register your interest in participating.

Please do not begin adding any food waste to your garden organics bin until the new service launches in April 2023.

There are a number of steps that need to occur for us to be ready to start the new service. As the time gets closer we will provide more information on what you need to do and when it will happen.

For those homes that have a garden waste bin, we will need to change the bin lids from a red lid to a green lid. This will occur sometime between March and June 2023. When your bin lid is changed over, you will also receive a caddy and a year’s supply of compostable liners as well as information on what can and cannot go in the food and garden bin.

Between March and June 2023 we will also deliver food and garden bins to homes that do not have a garden bin. A caddy and a year’s supply of compostable liners as well as information on what can and cannot go in the food and garden bin will be delivered with your new bin.

Please do not begin adding any food waste to your garden organics bin until the new service launches in April 2023.

Once the service is running you can add these items:

• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Bread, pasta, cereal and rice
• Seafood and meat (including bones)
• Dairy leftovers
• Egg shells
• Leftover food (cooked and raw)
• Human and animal hair
• Coffee grounds
• Lime Green Compostable bags (only AS 4736 with seedling symbol) (this does not include dog poo bags)
• Small sticks, tooth pics, skewers, and uncoated chop sticks
• Used paper, paper towel, napkins, paper bags, newspaper, and tissues
• Weeds, flowers, grass, leaves, garden pruning, clean timber, and branches (under 100mm in diameter)

The following items cannot go in the food and garden bin:

• Biodegradable bags, food packaging including cling wrap
• Seafood shells (eg. oyster)
• Liquids, fats, greases, and oils
• Nappies, personal hygiene products, baby wipes, makeup wipes
• Pet faeces and litter
• Sticky labels off fruit and vegetables
• Plastic, glass, metal (bottle caps, wire, etc), rocks, bricks, foil, polystyrene or cellophane
• Furniture, textiles and fabric
• Backyard and garage items, plastic pots, garden hoses, sporting equipment, gardening tools, batteries and oil containers
• Treated and painted timber, treated lattice and building materials
• Cigarette buts

What about food packaging?

Only food waste can be placed in your food and garden bin.

Food packaging including stickers, rubber bands, plastic containers, tins, plastic bags or plastic wrapping cannot be placed into your food and garden bin.

Unfortunately, most bins smell, but experience in other places shows that there is no difference in the smell of rubbish bins after a fortnight when rubbish, including nappies and other sanitary waste, was bagged or wrapped in plastic.

Other councils that have implemented weekly food and garden alongside a fortnightly rubbish collection have not reported an ongoing issue with disposable nappies or sanitary waste.

• Use smaller bags that can be closed tightly or double wrapped. This will reduce the amount of air circulating around the items and reduce the smell.
• Make sure your bin lid closes properly and there are no cracks in the bin sides. If there are cracks, let us know and we will organise repairs or replacement of your bin.
• Store the bin in the shade and out of direct sunlight.
• Recommend using reusable cloth nappies/sanitary/incontinence products to reduce waste/smell.
• Sprinkle a little Bi carb into your bags before closing.
• Place a small amount of vinegar or eucalyptus oil in the bottom of your bin to repel pests and minimise odours.
• For pet poo you can compost it in specifically designed, back-yard, compost bins – council rebates available soon. Also, pet poo certified compostable bags are available online for people who want to use this out on walks and bring it home to their own home compost system (not for the future council kerbside bin however).

A recent audit of rubbish bins found that food scraps make up 43% of waste in Knox. About 2% is garden waste and 12% is recyclable material.

By putting all food waste in the food and garden bin and all recyclables in the recycling bin, you should be able reduce your waste to accommodate the change to fortnightly rubbish collections.

Great work, you’re already diverting food waste from landfill saving methane emissions.

We are introducing food waste into the green waste bin as not everyone can compost at home, and not all food waste can be composted.

Introducing food waste within the green waste bin will allow items such as meat, fish and dairy to be diverted from landfill that commonly can’t be composted.

Starting a service like this takes significant planning and resourcing and we also have to contract some new services.

We also need to take the time to understand what you need to support you to make the change.

While some Councils have already implemented changes, there are many yet to make the change.

Knox’s plan for implementation in mid-2023 is similar to many nearby Councils

Households can order a bin at any time for an additional cost on our website or by calling council on 03 9298 8000.

All households that don’t currently have a green waste bin will have a food and garden bin delivered between April – June 2023.

Currently businesses are not eligible for Council's green waste bin service. Council has not yet decided on a food and garden service for business and will not be changing the schedule for residential bin collection at this time.

The Victorian Government, in their Recycling Victoria policy will introduce new rules to require businesses to sort commonly recyclable materials and organic waste from unrecoverable wastes. It is expected that these rules will apply to businesses that do not use the Council kerbside collection system.

The Victorian Government will consult with businesses to develop these rules, which are expected to come into effect by 2025.

You can read more about out our current business waste and recycling on our website.

Yes, all households who have a Council household collection service will receive their own kitchen caddy and compostable caddy liners. For apartments and units this will happen slightly later, by November 2023.

We will be consulting directly with managers and owner’s corporations of apartments and units that have council waste services on to make sure that your property has the appropriate waste service and bin capacity to facilitate a food and garden bin.

No, you do not have to use the kitchen caddy and compostable liners if you don’t want to. We recommend using a container with a lid such as an old ice cream tub or similar. You can line your container with newspaper or paper towel instead of using compostable liners.

When the service starts, the food and garden waste collected from Knox households will be sent to Bio Gro, an organics facility where it will be transformed into high-grade compost. This is used to enrich the soil at farms, parks and gardens.