By AIDAN KNIGHT
LATROBE City councillors voted against introducing glass bins at last month’s council meeting.
The debate around glass recycling services is currently taking place across many councils in Victoria.
Yallourn Ward Councillor Steph Morgan agreed with the officers recommendation to not implement a separate kerbside collection service for recycling glass, opting to instead introduce a drop-off service at transfer stations, which would be established before July 2027 to meet state government requirements.
These same requirements have seen much discussion in council chambers across the state, with many municipalities, including neighbouring Baw Baw Shire Council distributing a purple-lidded bin specifically for glass collection.
Latrobe City Council put it out for community consultation, and saw a total of 1940 responses.
“We received an incredible amount of feedback from the community,” Cr Morgan said.
“Alongside a thorough waste audit across 128 households within 12 townships.”
The Yallourn Ward councillor described the move not to adopt the purple-lid bins as a low risk, evidence-based approach that would save ratepayers a substantial amount.
Such a service would set council back $3.7million in the first year of rollout, with an ongoing annual cost of half-a-million dollars every year after.
Cr Morgan summed it up as “a bit mad” to charge for a community asking for a different option.
The officers recommendation included a staged approach, that would have council re-evaluate if the transfer station method was meeting community needs and accessibility requirements.
Moe Ward Cr Adele Pugsley said a glass bin would not be a good use of ratepayers’ funds.
“When we already have a system that works really really well,” she said, referring to the usual yellow lid recycle bin, which Cr Pugsley added already meets the mandated requirements.
“I don’t see that it would be sustainable if we’ve got a separate bin truck following our other bin trucks, (…) to pick up my three jam jars per year.”
The Moe Ward representative saw that not proceeding with the new bin was the only practical and responsible decision.
The motion passed unanimously, making Latrobe City one of more than 50 Councils across Victoria to say no the purple bin.
