We're trialling a new way to reduce waste

We'll work together with households in parts of Hadfield, Brunswick and Brunswick West to transform the norm by putting all food scraps into food and garden organics (FOGO) bins instead of rubbish bins.

Taking food scraps out of landfill means we can create more compost to help grow the food we eat.

To help do this, we'll collect general rubbish bins every 2 weeks in trial areas. The trial starts 1 July 2025.

We notified households in trial areas in November 2024 by mail. If you didn't receive a letter, then you're not in the trial and your bin collections will remain the same.

If you received a letter, please click the Participant Hub button below for more information.

Why we're doing it

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

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.

More than 20 Victorian councils now collect rubbish bins every 2 weeks. These councils found that when rubbish is picked up every 2 weeks, more people use their food and garden bin (FOGO) for food scraps.

This helps reduce food waste in landfill, lowers climate pollution, and saves money on collection and landfill fees.

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

We'll work with households and businesses in the trial areas to prepare for fortnightly rubbish collections. The trial starts 1 July 2025.

After the trial, the Council will decide how to bring two-week rubbish collections to the rest of Merri-bek.