Yarra welcomes Victorian Government investment in recycling
Tuesday 13 August 2019
Today we welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement of funding to support those councils affected by the SKM closure, and their commitment to work with councils to overhaul kerbside waste and recycling collections.
Yarra Mayor, Cr Danae Bosler said, “While we are fortunate that Yarra has been unaffected by the SKM closure, we are conscious that many of our neighbouring councils have not been so lucky. Today’s announcement of financial support is a welcome step.”
“We are also very pleased that the State Government has made a commitment to work with councils to overhaul kerbside waste collections.
“In June this year, we began a 12 month trial of an innovative four-stream kerbside collection service with around 1300 households in Abbotsford. Residents separate their food and green waste from their landfill waste, and their glass from their co-mingled recycling.
“In just 2 months within our trial area, we have diverted almost 60 tonnes of material from landfill. Nearly half of this was food and organic waste, which is composted and used in our local parks or sent to Victorian farms.
“90% of glass collected separately can be recycled into new glass products. We’ve collected 11.26 tonnes of glass which is being recycled right here in Melbourne. Any glass that can’t be recycled is used in bitumen for our local roads. 19.40 tonnes of co-mingled recycling is being processed by our contractor in Australia.
“Yarra’s waste revolution has just begun but it is already proving to be a great success – reducing waste to landfill and improving the quality of recyclables being collected.
“Our trial is demonstrating a sustainable and replicable model for kerbside waste and recycling collection and processing. We look forward to working closely with the Victorian Government to share what we have learnt through our trial and to discuss how this approach could be rolled out more widely” Cr Bosler said.