A handy household bin collection calendar is available on Greater Shepparton City Council’s website. You can enter your address and find out exactly when the changes will occur for your property.
The frequency changes commenced from Monday 16 October and will take approximately two weeks to roll out across the whole of municipality. Council is moving to a more sustainable and financially responsible waste disposal model which reduces waste to landfill and the costs incurred in levies.
The green lid bin (food and garden organics) will now be collected weekly and the red lid bin (landfill waste) and yellow lid bin (recycling) will be collected on alternating fortnights. The day your bin is collected does not change.
Residents can upsize their recycling bin to a new 360 litre yellow bin which will cater for a larger amount of recyclable products, especially cardboard. Upgrades of the red lid bin are also available for those with larger families.
Previous audits of kerbside bins have indicated a large amount of food waste is ending up in landfill via the red lid bins; organic material that could otherwise be turned into compost and returned to the earth. Changing the collection of the green bin to weekly will contribute towards diverting organic material from landfill.
A 2021 regional waste audit found that in Greater Shepparton, disposable nappies make up 30.5 per cent of all general waste by volume, and 18.3 per cent by weight. Greater Shepparton had the highest concentration of disposable nappies out of all regions surveyed.
Council is introducing a new collection service for nappies and incontinence aids which will assist residents with managing the volume of waste in their red lid bin. This service will be provided to residents as part of Council’s current waste services and is an integral step towards minimising waste going to landfill. Residents interested in the service can register now via Council’s website.
In addition, a new textiles recovery service is being provided at the Shepparton, Ardmona and Murchison Resource Recovery Centres. Residents will be able to drop off their unwanted textiles, not suitable for donating to charity, in the boxes at no cost. The textiles will be collected regularly and sorted for re-use, repair, upcycling or recycling.
Textile waste contributes 800,000 tonnes per year to landfill. Textiles take years to break down in landfill and may lead to contamination of ground water and emits carbon dioxide and methane which contributes to global warming.[1]
Unwanted and unwearable textiles including clothing, shoes, soft toys, home décor and accessories can be disposed of, diverting waste from landfill. The service is now available and is provided by Upcycle4Better.
The frequency change and new services will encourage the correct sorting of waste to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. The outcomes that will be achieved will contribute towards aligning with the Victorian Government’s 2030 waste diversion objectives.
A soft plastics collection service is currently being investigated.
In 2024, a new purple lid bin (glass recycling) will be introduced and will be emptied every four weeks to improve glass recycling and diversion of glass waste from landfill.
If you need more information or want to sign up for the nappy service, please visit the website at shepp.city/whichbin or call Council’s Customer Service on 5832 9700.