From Monday, October 14, council will begin distributing purple bins to households across Moira Shire.
Collection will begin in December this year.
The new purple bin will enable residents to separate glass jars and bottles from other recyclable items, such as cardboard, plastic and tin cans.
Glass products including jars and bottles — empty and rinsed — are to go in the purple bin.
According to council, residents cannot opt out of the glass bin service, even should they not wish to use it.
When glass shatters during the recycling process, the shards embed in the cardboard, plastic and paper mixed throughout the load.
As a result, these contaminated items are unable to be recycled into useable products and potentially end up in landfill.
The announcement comes as collection frequency for landfill (red) and organic (green) bins is set to change early next year.
From February 2025, collection for red bins will be once every fortnight rather than weekly. Organic bins, meanwhile, will be collected weekly.
Despite the change in red bin collection frequency, charges will apply if residents wish to upgrade to a larger bin.
Earlier this year, council sought community consultation on proposed changes to bin collection services across the shire.
In its response to the Kerbside Collection Community survey conducted earlier this year, council said through “transitioning to a more frequent food and garden organic collection, we hope to drive behaviour change to reduce food waste in landfill bins and create cleaner recycling streams”.
The installation of purple bins is a requirement for all councils under the Victorian Government’s four-bin system, legislated in the Circular Economy Act 2021.
Key to the policy is the diversion of 80 per cent of material away from landfill by 2030.
According to council, the government will be increasing the landfill levy for municipal waste across the state.
The current landfill levy charged to councils is set to rise from $129.27 per tonne to $167.90/tonne from July next year.
In March this year, Acting Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the four-stream recycling system would work alongside the government’s Container Deposit Scheme to make it easier than ever for Victorians to recycle their glass.
“Our new household recycling services will maximise our recycling capacity, create new jobs and divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030, while helping to reduce emissions by 50 per cent,” she said.
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