Community support behind glass-only bin success

Published on 04 October 2022

Council rolled out 10,420 purple glass-only bins for kerbside collection in October 2021, with the first collections starting in November 2021.

Since then, a total of 330.86 tonnes of glass (equivalent to 250 caravans in weight) has been collected from November 2021 to 30 June 2022. 

We have also seen a reduction of more than 30 per cent in weight of the yellow recycle bin since the purple glass bins were introduced.

“This is a fantastic result and we thank our community for their efforts in making this change,” said Mayor Hanson. “Our target to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030, with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2027 relies on behaviour change from everyone across the shire.”

The GoodSort app helped the community to make these important behavioural changes. The app was developed by Council and has reminders about the four bin system, as well as an A-Z waste material guide to show which bin to place an item.

The app had 2,692 downloads so far and 63,172 views of the main dashboard, with 33,751 searches of the waste materials section. The top three searched items are how to dispose of bedding, animals and glass bottles and jars.

The glass-only bins form part of our kerbside collection services to 10,420 households with more than 1.2 million annual bin lifts and 2,380 customer requests.

Free glass drop-offs were also offered to Colac Otway Shire residents during January at Council Transfer Stations in Alvie, Apollo Bay and Birregurra, with approximately 2.5 tonnes of glass received during January.

“We’re pleased with these statistics and in reducing waste to landfill, but there’s still more work to be done,” said Mayor Hanson. “Let’s work together to reach diversion targets to the benefit of the environment, as well as providing significant financial benefits for the community in the long-term.”