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This article was published on Wednesday, 8 May, 2024. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Draft Budget kerbside collection service charges released

In Summary

Greater Shepparton City Council's 2024/2025 Draft Budget, released for public feedback on May 10, includes changes to kerbside waste management and associated charges.
The changes aim to align service charges with the cost of services provided, reflecting positive steps towards reducing waste to landfill.
Kerbside service charges are influenced by factors such as waste contracts, landfill prices, EPA levy, and the introduction of new services like the glass bin.
Proposed service charges for 2024/2025 vary depending on bin size and type, with an online calculator available for residents to estimate their charges.

The kerbside transition, including frequency changes, the introduction of the new glass bin, the continuation of the nappy collection service, along with the award of the new long-term waste contracts, provided an opportunity for Council to ensure that the service charges align with the cost of the service being provided. These are all positive steps to reducing waste to landfill.

Bin collection kerbside service charges are levied under section 162 of the Local Government Act 1989 and must be declared as part of the adoption of the budget. The Act allows Council to set service charges for waste, recycling or resource recovery services. This includes the collection, transport, storage, treatment, processing, recycling and disposal of materials for resource recovery or recycling.

Service charges can only be used to offset the cost of the service being delivered. The funds cannot be used for a different purpose. General rates however, are used to provide any service to the municipality.

Council recovers the full costs of waste services from kerbside charges. These costs include transport, processing and disposal of waste, bin replacement and maintenance and other services such as administration, education and public litter bins.

All kerbside service charges have changed for 2024-25 and are influenced by the following factors:

Waste collection, transport, processing and disposal contracts
Landfill disposal price
EPA Levy
Kerbside transition, including frequency changes and introduction of new services and the impact this has on diversion as well as any contamination.

Depending on the size of your waste bin, the cost of your kerbside collection will vary. The four bin collection includes the general waste (red), FOGO (green), recycling (yellow) and glass (purple).

Below are the proposed service charges in the 2024/2025 Draft Budget:

Residential Charges	2023/24 Cost	2024/25 Cost	Variance ($)	Variance (%)
80L General Waste	$64/year*	$100/year*	$36	54%
120L General Waste	$139/year*	$154/year*	$15	11%
240L General Waste	$337/year*	$289/year*	(-$48)	(-14%)
120L, 240L or 360L Recyclables	$121/year*	$65/year*	(-$56)	(-46%)
80L or 240L Green Organic (FOGO)	$113/year*	$143/year*	$30	27%
120L Glass	$0/year*	$32/year*	$32	100%

* These prices do not include GST, which is applicable to all waste service charges levied on non-residential or non-farm properties. Current general waste (red lid) and recycling (yellow lid) are consolidated on the rate notice. These have been split for comparability and will be split on the rate notice in future.

To work out your kerbside collection charges, please tap here for a handy online calculator.

The community have the opportunity to provide feedback on the 2024/2025 Draft Budget from Friday 10 May to Friday 31 May 2024, including the proposed kerbside service charges, prior to the document being endorsed at a Council Meeting in June 2024.

Visit shaping.greatershepparton.com.au to read the document online and provide your feedback.