Six councils, including Yarra Ranges Shire, are taking part in a study that could reduce between five and 15 per cent of the waste in our household bins.
The study is set to research and understand how to implement a reusable period care and incontinence program to reduce waste in landfill.
Disposable nappies, incontinence products and period care products going to landfill is becoming one of the most significant waste issues, behind only food waste in the percentage of total waste.
Yarra Ranges Mayor Jim Child said that finding a solution to this issue was one of the Council’s highest priorities when it came to waste management.
“We’ve recently just gone through quite an extensive community consultation period for our Draft Waste Plan, which incorporates the change to a four-stream waste service,” he said.
“As part of this, we had many questions from the community around how they were able to dispose of their sanitary items if we were to move to a fortnightly rubbish bin collection. We think that by partnering with Councils going through a similar transition with their waste services, we’ll be able to come to a positive outcome that will benefit all Councils and their residents, while also minimising waste.”
Approximately 660 million disposable sanitary and incontinence products end up in landfill per year in Australia and it can take up to 800 years for the plastic products to break down.
The feasibility study will engage with people who use sanitary products and incontinence aids to understand current barriers to using reusable products and will benchmark existing programs from other councils to reach target audiences, meet user needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of programs to reduce waste and change behaviour.
The collaborative project between councils hopes to understand and break down barriers to using reusable products in different age and health demographics, and allows for the sharing of costs and resources, increasing the likelihood of an ongoing reusable program.
It will recommend a best practice model to achieve waste reduction and assist and support people who use sanitary products or incontinence aids, to increase the circular economy and to create the basis for behaviour change across Victoria.
The study has been awarded $80,000 from Sustainability Victoria, through the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria Councils Fund.
