At the June 10 Council meeting, Merri-bek Council voted to introduce fortnightly rubbish collection starting next year. On June 1, we published a blog post “Merri-bek must slash waste to landfill – here’s how“. We were pleased to see that this was one of our most popular posts of the last few years. Clearly many people are interested in solutions.

Here is my statement to Wednesday’s Council meeting on behalf of Climate Action Merri-bek.

Good evening Mayor, Councillors and Council Officers, I am Maggie Cowling, convenor of Climate Action Merri-bek, and resident of Coburg North.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak regarding fortnightly rubbish collection. Thank you to the petitioners who have spoken up about their concerns, which helps us all understand what the needs and issues are. At CAM we share the petitioners’ desire to find a way that works for everyone to divert as much waste from landfill as we can. As the council report notes, the benefits to all of us are environmental and financial.

CAM members have noticed a strong interest in solutions we posted online and we applaud the council officers’ solutions-based report (item 7.1). The report’s Option 1 shows Council has been listening to the needs and concerns of some residents due to their particular circumstances. For these cases, they have suggested some practical and compassionate exceptions to the standard fortnightly introduction. (Including bigger bins, maintaining weekly collection for larger apartment buildings, pensioner concessions, additional “ad hoc” collections where necessary due to household size or special events, and capacity for a case-by-case response in exceptional circumstances.) This is how we can help each other and achieve the targets for diverting waste from landfill. A third of Victoria’s councils have already made the conversion and they’re smashing their landfill diversion targets.

In addition to the Report’s recommendations, perhaps as part of the implementation process, council could look into maintaining a permanent community outreach officer to ensure householders are well-informed about how to use their bins. This might involve an app, such as Whittlesea and other councils use, telling people what to put in which bin and when to put it out. We could also be investigating nappy recycling services (City of Greater Shepparton offers a free nappy recycling service – disposable nappies are collected and recycled into kitty litter), and non-disposable nappy washing services and concessions for their use. Nappies contribute to 13.5% of landfill – it’s a topic worth exploring, and we’re all likely to need absorbent hygiene products at some point in our lives.

As the report mentions, reticence to use the weekly FOGO bin is in part due to misunderstandings around whether or not compostable bags or paper bags are acceptable. Some people don’t want to put food waste directly into their bins, or don’t have room in the fridge or freezer to store it until they’re ready, etc., and want a form of bag to contain leaky food scraps. The lack of a really clear communication on this point is due to a long wait for State government standards and a complexity with the current FOGO contract. At this point, we can at least reassure people they can line the bottom of their FOGO bin with paper towelling if they don’t have grass clippings/weeds etc to do the job. Again, an outreach role would help with this.

After many years of examining the transition to fortnightly rubbish collection, including the issuing of FOGO bins to every household in 2023, this is a good time to introduce it with all the compassion and understanding that this report shows.

Earlier this week, I had a lengthy discussion with my ward Cr. Helen Politis, who was not able to attend Wednesday’s Council meeting, but asked that I pass on to the Councillors her support for the introduction of fortnightly collections with the concessions and exceptions set out in the council report.

(Note that I was to present on Zoom, but due to a technical glitch, Council requested that this statement be read in the chamber by Pauline Galvin. Pauline had an earlier version of this statement, which did not have this final sentence. We apologise to Cr Politis that we were unable to pass on her message in the meeting.)