Macedon Ranges council’s four bin system has been crowned a champion at the Waste and Innovation Recycling Awards held in Melbourne in late October.
The four colour-coded bins initiative won the regional category of Outstanding Waste and Resource Recovery (WARR) Project, for being both cost-effective and high-impact in a targeted field.
In February 2020, council was one of the first in Victoria to introduce the waste and recycling system for residents to sort into: yellow for recycling; green for FOGO—food and garden organics; red for general waste, and purple for glass only.
Macedon Ranges mayor Jennifer Anderson said council had worked hard to educate the community about waste reduction and provided resources to facilitate behaviour change.
“We have already seen a significant change in the way our residents are both considering the refuse, reduce, reuse and repair mentality,” Cr Anderson said.
“When they do need to dispose of items they have embraced the kerbside four-bin system to maximise recycling, significantly reducing the amount of material going to landfill.”
Council said within two years of rolling out the four bin system, it had achieved the “highest diversion of resources from landfill of any council in Victoria since the system was introduced”.
Elsie Lange
