Abbotsford four-bin waste trial

We've been trialling a four-bin waste and recycling system across 1,300 households in Abbotsford since June 2019.

If you live in this area, you have four bins to sort your waste and recycling, including:

  • Food and green waste
  • Glass
  • Other recyclables
  • Rubbish

Thanks to Yarra's Abbotsford Waste Revolution trial we’re now recycling 62% of waste produced, which is up from just 35% in 2018-19. 

To find out more about what we achieved together watch our video below.

As the trial was such a success, we've rolled out a separate bin for glass recycling across the rest of Yarra.

This will bring us one step closer to achieving the Victorian Governments plan to roll out the four-bin waste and recycling system state-wide by 2030.

We’ll have more news on the introduction of a separate food and green waste bin for the rest of Yarra in the future, but for now we look forward to working with you to create a more circular economy that is good for local jobs, the environment and our future.

Bin posters to help sort your waste and recycling

We have a series of posters that show you what can and cannot go into each of your recycling and waste bins.

Feel free to download, print and put them up at home, near your bins or wherever you find useful. 

Map of the trial area

When will my bins be collected?

If you live in the Abbotsford alternate collections area (formerly Abbotsford trial area) your bins will still be collected on Tuesdays on the days shown on the collection calendar below.

  • Your food and green waste bin will be collected every week.
  • Your recycling bin will be collected every second week.
  • Your glass and rubbish bins will be collected on the alternate second week.

And they continue to alternate moving forward.

All bins should be placed out the night before your collection day. To avoid contamination please put your bin out as late as you can and bring it in as early as you can.

If you live in the Abbotsford alternate collections area, you can download a copy of the collection calendar from June 2022.

Download collection calendar (PDF 153KB)

How to use your purple-lid glass bin

Your purple glass bin is where you will dispose of recyclable glass. This includes glass bottles and jars, with the lids off. Drinking glasses and other household glass should all go in your rubbish bin. A full list of what is and isn’t accepted can be found on the purple-lid glass bin page or on the A to Z Waste and Recycling Guide. 

How to use your yellow-lid recycling bin

This is your recycling bin for materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic water bottles (labelled 1 and 2) and aluminium foil and cans. 

We can now also accept plastic packaging labelled 5. These include ice cream containers, yoghurt and butter tubs, meat trays. 

What goes in this bin is now the same as the rest of Yarra. The full list can be found on the yellow-lid recycling bin page. 

How to use your food and green bin

Half of the rubbish produced in households is food waste. Instead of it sitting there, producing large quantities of methane and carbon emissions, we want to turn it into nutritious compost that will help to keep Yarra green.

If you live in the Abbotsford alternate collections area you will have a green-lidded bin to dispose of food scraps and green/garden waste. Below is a list of what you can and cannot put in this bin.

In this bin, you can put:

  • Food scraps 
    • Fruit and vegetables, bread, seafood, meat, dairy, eggs, tea leaves (no bags) and coffee grind 
  • Garden waste
    • Grass clipping, plants, weeds, prunings, leaves, flowers

You can’t put in:

  • Plastic
  • Cardboard
  • Glass
  • Metal
  • Polystyrene
  • Rubber 
  • Pet faeces 
  • Animal remains 
  • Large/heavy branches
  • Cooking oil
  • Plastic bags/bin liners including compostable or biodegradable bags or products like biodegradable cutlery and crockery
  • Treated wood/timber
  • Nappies 

DIY bin liners and kitchen caddy

The processing facility that we send your food and green organics to does not accept bioplastic, biodegradable or compostable bin liners. We recommend using either paper bags or newspaper to wrap your food waste. 

You can also watch the video below on how to make your own bin liners out of old newspaper or download the DYI bin liner PDF.