Changes To Make Wyndham Greener

Wyndham residents will soon receive an extra hard waste collection every year after changes to Wyndham City’s Waste and Litter Strategy were adopted at the Ordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday, 6th February, 2018.

An extensive review of Council’s Waste and Litter Strategy 2016-2040, which was adopted in May 2016, found that extra hard waste collections would mean more people could access waste services.

Wyndham City’s Environment and Sustainability portfolio holder, Cr Heather Marcus, said households would also receive one tip token per year, which reduces costs across the board for residents.

“By adopting this new system, not only do we increase access to waste services for more residents, we can also avoid increasing the waste management charge for the 18/19 financial year, meaning costs for residents will remain neutral. People who already have a green bin will also see their costs go down by $28.50.”

“Council’s Waste and Litter Strategy had an overall goal of diverting 90 percent of waste away from landfill. Since it was adopted we’ve introduced a range of innovative tools to help us tackle waste, including reverse vending machines and smart bins,” Cr Marcus said.

“One thing we heard loud and clear from the community was that they wanted greater access to waste service for all our residents, including people who are renting their homes. That’s a key reason why we’ve introduced these changes.”

“Currently residents can book two hard waste collections each year, while the owner of the property receives two tip tokens. Unfortunately, landlords often fail to forward these tokens onto people renting their properties, meaning they miss out on this service.”

“By increasing the number of hard waste collections, we can ensure that the person living at the property can utilise this service. It also means that people who don’t have a car or a trailer will not miss out.”

“There has also been a gradual decline in the number of people redeeming their tip tokens. During the last financial year 28 per cent of residents used a token, and of those people, only 31 per cent used both of their tokens.”

“As a Councillor who represents a Ward with more established suburbs with larger lots, which may also have large gardens, I understand that some residents may be concerned by the reduction of tip tokens, particularly when it comes to disposing of green waste. This has been compensated for though, by introducing discounted green bins, which will hopefully improve uptake and allow more households to take advantage of this service.”

“Council is working hard to make Wyndham a more environmentally friendly City, and this strategy will go a long way towards achieving that. In addition to the changes we’ve already introduced, like being able to book hard waste collections online, residents can expect to see pop up recycling days, discounted mattress disposal opportunities and more recycling collections during the festive season.”

For more information visit www.wyndham.vic.gov.au.