By Callum Ludwig
At the Tuesday 13 June council meeting, Yarra Ranges councillors approved Council’s Community Waste and Resource Recovery Plan 2023–2030.
Following community consultation in which 435 respondents provided feedback, amendments have been made and changes to waste management and bin collection will be coming into effect.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child moved the motion and said it is probably one of the most important decisions they are making.
“In our metropolitan area, this is what we definitely need. I live on a rural property and we deal with our organics a different way, we deal with them on-site but in our metropolitan area that’s what we have to look at, we have to look at the bigger picture,” he said,
“When you look at what we’ve had to go through as far as putting this strategy into place and the strong buy-in by our community, it would probably be one of the best consultation processes that I’ve seen and the amount of community input was absolutely outstanding.”
The Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria policy announced in late 2020 prompted the development of the plan, with the impending closure of the Hallam South landfill in 2025 also providing an incentive for Yarra Ranges Council to seek alternatives to reduce both costs and rubbish.
Billanok Ward Councillor Tim Heenan seconded the motion and said this is the sort of thing that residents say to them every single time in conversations.
“It’s one of the three things that they want us to deal with and I won’t get into the other two but certainly rubbish is always topical and always has been,” he said.
“I’ve learned so much in relation to the way that waste is generated in the Yarra Ranges and how we in every different way try to control how much goes to landfill. This plan presents a vision for the Yarra Ranges community working together towards the circular economy.”
The switch to the four-stream bin collection has already been announced to begin in October this year with the introduction of a FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin and Yarra Ranges Council is partnering with other councils to investigate constructing an Advanced Waste Processing (AWP) facility by 2026 to reduce the landfill produced by a number of Councils.
Five former landfill sites in the Yarra Ranges will be continued to be managed according to their Post Closure Management Plans and EPA Post Closure Pollution Abatement Notices. The last of those landfill sites to close, in Coldstream, was closed in 2004.
Lyster Ward Councillor Johanna Skelton also spoke to the motion and said following the feedback, the plan has come back to them with just a couple of minor changes, but they are really important minor changes.
“I think the vision update was well-needed and a really good adjustment because obviously it was just around not having landfill. But more importantly than that, now with the new vision, we’ve got retention of those resources and a focus for us as a municipality to use those products,” she said.
“Many looked at the plan and said ‘What am I going to do with my nappies?’ and it’s great to see that there’s consideration around reasonable nappy rebates and things like that built into our future education and future possibilities for this plan, likewise with any pet poo not going into the FOGO.”
Other feedback from residents included further education and advocating opportunities, changing attitudes to hard rubbish with a focus on reusing products, alternative bin options and improved access to tip shops.
The motion was passed unanimously.
