Council bin contamination crackdown leaves Melburnians fuming

City of Yarra residents are fed up with their council’s recycling collection process, which they say has left the streets overflowing with rubbish.

In December 2020, the council split recycling into a purple bin for glass and a yellow bin for all other recyclables, with alternating weekly collections between the two bin. This reduction, paired with an increase in goods ordered online and more time spent working from home since COVID-19 hit in early 2021, means many residents have been struggling to fit their recycling into their bins.

The onset of COVID-19 also coincided with a City of Yarra crackdown on contamination, which has seen some bins are being left sitting on footpaths all week.

Reid Butler, who investigated issue for 9News last night, says the City of Yarra isn’t the only local government area where bin collection is a vexed issue.

Glen Eira recently moved to fortnightly landfill collection.

Monash will make the change in August, and Port Phillip is also considering the move.

Amid rising rubbish management costs, the City of Yarra is investigating the potential introduction of a separate waste charge for residents in its 2023-24 budget.

The council says the introduction of a new waste charge would be “subject to an extensive community consultation”.

Press PLAY to hear more about rubbish problems plaguing Victorian councils

Yarra ratepayers are demanding the council cleans up its act, saying that they’ve noticed a sharp increase in rubbish spilling onto the streets. @reid_butler9 #9News pic.twitter.com/kg0hd5ZIl1

— 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) June 20, 2022

Image: 9News