Last week, TWiSK submitted questions about the waste strategy consultation before the agenda papers revealing the imminent vote to award a new contract.
Our questions were:
Q: What steps has council taken to ensure that residents of houses and townhouses aware that council’s draft policy includes a 50% reduction of household waste collections?
Q: What are the pros and cons of this change for residents?
Q: Will there be a corresponding decrease in waste charges to residents?
Q: Is the new waste contract tender process being conducted assuming this change?
Today we present the Mayor’s response in full. She explains that changes to waste collections have been a longstanding policy and that a reduction of services ‘would result in savings that would be passed onto residents’ but it depends on costs imposed on Council.
Mayor says the move to four bins prompts changes to collections
‘All councils are required to reduce waste to landfill and become more sustainable with a requirement for a four-bin rollout. This has long been the policy that Council has been working towards and our community has told us they want better recycling and better FOGO outcomes.
‘The waste contract is designed to be flexible as we meet our legislative requirements, noting there are now more bins for waste streams. It is an expanded service offer and all councils are looking to become more efficient and financially responsible in how they deliver these services.’
Q: What steps has council taken to ensure that residents of houses and townhouses aware that council’s draft policy includes a 50% reduction of household waste collections?
‘This is not a new concept – our Council has been transparent about this as an option and has engaged with the community on this over several years.
‘A transition to fortnightly garbage was previously adopted by Council in the former waste and recycling strategy (2022 – 2025) following community engagement and then consultation on the draft strategy. This was for a broader roll out – for apartments and unit blocks as well as houses and townhouses.
‘What’s being proposed this time in our draft strategy 2025-2028 is a narrower version of that original concept.
‘In Phase One of our consultation (14 March to 13 April 2025) to inform revision of the Strategy, we asked residents which waste stream they would prefer to move to a fortnightly collection, and nearly half of respondents chose a fortnightly garbage service, more than any other stream.
‘This feedback directly informed our decision to include the action in the draft strategy 2025-2028. Council is currently engaging with our community on this draft strategy including the proposed transition to fortnightly garbage for houses and townhouses.
‘The consultation has been open for feedback since 15 September and shared with the community through our standard community engagement channels. We also highlighted the action in the consultation survey. An engagement summary report will be prepared before Councillors make a decision, expected in November this year.
‘Your article of 12 October questioned why community engagement on the draft Strategy will close on 19 October while the decision about a new kerbside waste arrangement is to be made on 15 October.
‘While these two topics are related, they are not dependent on each other. The kerbside collection contract extension has been designed to be flexible and accommodate whatever outcomes emerge from the strategy consultation.
‘If the consultation results in no changes to Council services, the collection contract remains appropriate. However, if the Strategy leads to the rollout of new services or changes to existing services, the extended contract can be adjusted accordingly.’
Q: What are the pros and cons of this change for residents?
‘Most councils offer a fortnightly collection for at least one waste stream. Twenty-six Victorian councils have fortnightly garbage collections, with many more looking to introduce it – this is because it is the most effective method to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
‘This has been demonstrated in other municipalities that have rolled this out including our neighbours Glen Eira and Bayside. Glen Eira’s diversion rate jumped from 49.1 per cent in 2020/21 to 60.7 per cent in 2023/24 with Bayside’s rising from 58.6 to 70.5 per cent over the same timeframe.
‘This is because a reduced collection frequency encourages residents to use their other bins correctly. We know from our conversations with our community that many people put everything in their garbage bin because that’s easier than sorting. When your bin is collected fortnightly you have less space to fill.
‘To stop a garbage bin from overfilling, residents can put their food scraps and garden clippings in the FOGO bin and recyclables in the mixed recycling bin. This provides enough room in garbage bins for what belongs in there and help keep more recyclables and food and garden waste out of landfill.
‘We acknowledge that a fortnightly garbage collection could be challenging for some households, such as those with large families, children in nappies, large share houses and residents with medical waste. If Council decides to change timing, we would provide these types of households with exemptions for larger bins.
‘Achieving a higher diversion rate by encouraging everyone to use their bins more effectively under the Victorian Government’s mandatory four-bin system is a major goal of our proposal as it brings benefits including lower carbon and greenhouse gas emissions and reduced costs.
‘With a fourth glass bin imminent, a fortnightly garbage collection would also reduce the number of trucks and bins on the street on collection days.’
Q: Will there be a corresponding decrease in waste charges to residents?
‘A move to fortnightly would result in savings that would be passed onto residents. However, the precise impact on waste charges is to be determined including consideration of:|
• The Victorian Government’s landfill levy, imposed on councils to dispose waste at landfills, continues to significantly increase year on year. Between 2021 and 2024, the landfill levy nearly doubled – from $65.90 to $132.76 per tonne. In 2025 it was raised another 26 per cent, reaching $169.79 per tonne.
• Underlying increases in waste collection contracts.
• The proposed change to move to fortnightly garbage collection only applies to some properties, not the whole municipality. Any building with more than four dwellings wouldn’t be affected.
• We currently have a blanket waste charge for all households. The draft Strategy proposes implementing a waste charge policy which would see pricing reflect the level of service.
‘This table in the Council report to be considered shows Port Phillip has the lowest waste charge of the other councils listed and one of the most overall frequent waste collection services:
Q: Is the new waste contract tender process being conducted assuming this change?
‘The current waste tender covers garbage collection services as they operate today. The successful contractor will continue providing these services, although there may be small changes to collection routes and bin pickup days to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
‘If Council decides to move to fortnightly garbage collection, there will be a process in place to update the agreement with the selected contractor accordingly.
‘More widely, as part of this extension we have explored various options with Cleanaway, such as the costs and savings related to potential changes to our services. Things we explored included a change in collection frequency, the rollout of a glass service, increased use of the FOGO service, changes to the communal collection hubs, and other initiatives. None of these are locked in.’
