We're trialling a new way to reduce waste

We are collecting general rubbish bins every 2 weeks in parts of Hadfield, Brunswick and Brunswick West.

We're working together with households and businesses in the trial areas to 'transform the norm'. By putting even more food scraps into food and garden organics (FOGO) bins instead of rubbish bins, we are reducing costs and creating more compost to help grow the food we eat.

Properties in the trial area received a new bin (with red lid and 'transform the norm' sticker) in June 2025. If you didn't receive a new bin , then you're not in the trial and your bin collections will remain the same.

Why we're doing it

It's costing more to send waste to landfill, so reducing waste going to landfill is more important than ever before. This trial aims to help keep landfill and collection costs (which make up the waste charge paid by ratepayers) low for the future.

Even though you're doing a great job with the 4-bin service, there's more we can do.

More than 20 Victorian councils already collect rubbish bins every 2 weeks. They're sending less to landfill because people put their food scraps in the food and garden organics (FOGO) bin every week.

We've noticed a lot of food scraps still being put in rubbish bins - about a third of what's in there is food waste.

That's like throwing out 5 meals every week!

It costs more to send food waste to landfill than it does to turn it into compost.

Watch the video below to find out how your food and garden waste is turned into compost and used by farms and gardens to help grow the food we eat.

How we got here

We've been rolling out changes to our kerbside waste service in stages since 2022. This way, we can help households get used to the new system and make the change as easy as possible for everyone.

In July 2023, we started our 4-bin waste service. This change was part of the State Government's Recycling Victoria Policy and we heard feedback from our community during consultation on our waste service.

Along with a new purple bin for glass bottles and jars, we also made changes to hard waste collections and our waste charge.

The next step to help reduce waste is to trial collecting rubbish bins every 2 weeks.

We know this is a big change for Merri-bek residents, so we'll first test collecting rubbish bins every 2 weeks in one area in the north of Merri-bek and one in the south. This trial will help us figure out the best way to bring fortnightly rubbish collections to all of Merri-bek.

Click here to learn more about the introduction of our 4-bin waste service.

What happens next

The trial started in July 2025. We're working with households and businesses in the trial areas to adjust to fortnightly rubbish collections.

After the trial, Council will decide on the future of fortnightly rubbish collections for the rest of Merri-bek.