Organics collection for rural households

• The service complies with the Victorian Government State-wide Kerbside Reform and Recycling Victoria Policy. 
• The City of Greater Bendigo is committed to reducing waste to landfill by effectively managing all forms of waste. There are currently 5,633 rural properties that do not have an organics collection service. Providing this service will help achieve this.
• The costs associated with sending waste to landfill will continue to increase which means the less waste we send to landfill the less it will cost the community.
• Kerbside bin audits undertaken by the City in July 2023 found that over 46 per cent of the contents of general waste bins in rural properties is organic (food and garden material) in nature which can be composted and reused rather than going straight to landfill.
• Organic material placed in landfill is the biggest cause of dangerous methane gas and other greenhouse gases, a significant contributor to climate change.
• The City’s organics service is saving approximately 14,500 tonnes of organic material each year from going to landfill. Instead it is being turned into reusable compost which is a great outcome for the environment. 

All remaining 5,633 properties in rural Greater Bendigo who are not currently receiving an organic waste collection service.

Rural residents will receive a new 240 litre (lime green lid) organics bin which will bring the total number of bins at your property to three. An information guide, kitchen caddy and compostable caddy liners will also be delivered with your new 240 litre (lime green lid) organics bin to help you understand the system and to avoid contaminating the organics service.

A simple thing to remember is if it didn’t grow, it doesn’t go in your organics bin!

You can put all your food scraps, garden material, dry leaves and debris from fuel reduction efforts around your property, paper and raw cardboard materials in your new organics bin, including: 

• Cooked and uncooked food
• Meat, poultry, and bones
• Fruit and vegetable scraps
• Eggs and eggshells
• Fish and seafood
• Bark, prunings and small branches (must be no bigger than 100mm in diameter and no longer than the length of your organics bin)
• Non-noxious weeds, lawn clippings and small plants
• Timber (natural: untreated, unpainted, unstained)
• Leaves, and dry fuel/debris
• Wooden skewers, toothpicks and cutlery
• Newspaper, paper towel and tissues
• Shredded paper, soiled paper and raw cardboard
• Dog poo (bagged in the green compostable liners)
• Hair and animal fur
• Paper bags

Please note the following items cannot go in your new organics bin:

• Diseased plants and noxious weeds*
• MDF, particle board or treated timber
• Nappies
• Clothing/textiles
• “Biodegradable” products

*For more information about declared noxious weeds, please visit the Agriculture Victoria website. 

From the week commencing Monday February 5, 2024, the City will swap the collection frequency of household general waste bins and organics bins. Your recycling bin collections will not change. 

From November 20, 2023 your collection will be:

• FORTNIGHTLY collection of your organics bin
• FORTNIGHTLY collection of your recycling bin
• WEEKLY collection of your general waste bin

From Monday February 5, 2024, it will change to:

• WEEKLY collection of your organics bin
• FORTNIGHTLY collection of your recycling bin
• FORTNIGHTLY collection of your general waste bin

The City is making these changes:

• To stop organic food and garden material from going to landfill and generating greenhouse gas emissions. Some households are still putting food and garden material in their general waste bin and the change will encourage people to use the correct bins 
• To encourage and educate households to correctly sort the waste they create
• To lessen the amount of general waste that will need to be transported to landfills outside of Greater Bendigo when the Eaglehawk Landfill reaches capacity in 2023 
• The costs associated with sending waste to landfill will continue to increase which means the less waste we send to landfill the less it will cost the community
• To achieve the aims of the Victorian Government’s circular economy policy and Recycling Victoria: A new economy plan and the actions of the City of Greater Bendigo’s Climate Change and Environment Strategy 2021-2026

You will receive your organics bin before the first collection commencing the week of Monday November 20, 2023.

Each household will receive:

• 1 x 240 litre lime green lid organics bin
• 1 x 8 litre kitchen caddy
• 1 roll of 150 compostable caddy liners (approximately a 12 month supply)
• 1 information booklet

The kitchen caddy has been designed to sit in your kitchen to help you separate your food scraps for placement into the lime green lid organics bin along with any organic garden material you have. 

The compostable caddy liners are made from corn starch and vegetable oils and breakdown in around 30 days when commercially composted. As the bags are designed to breakdown readily, they need to be stored in a dark, cool, dry place, so they last for the full year.

Here are some important tips to keep the caddy liners from splitting:

• Store caddy liners in a dark, cool, dry place
• Allow hot food to cool before placing it in the caddy liner
• Place paper towel in the bottom of the caddy liner to soak up any liquid
• Allow wet food to drain prior to placing in the caddy liner

No. Only the compostable caddy liners provided by the City of Greater Bendigo can be used as plastic bags will not break down in the composting system and will contaminate the organics service.

To request additional compostable liners once the service commences please contact us or request them online.

The lime green lid organics bin is for a combination of garden, food, and other kitchen material like paper towel, tissues and even hair. You can use the lime green lid organics bin for just food scraps and other organic material even if you don’t garden.

Kerbside bin audits undertaken by the City in mid-2023 found that 46 per cent of the contents of general waste bins in rural properties was organic in nature. See page 2 for examples of organic material – some may surprise you! 

Even if you still produce very little organic material, it doesn’t matter how much or how little you have to put in your bin as it doesn’t need to be full for collection and every little bit of waste diverted from landfill counts.

Yes, please do. People may find that the lime green lid organics bin allows them to compost a greater variety of food organics (e.g. egg shells, meat, bones, citrus and seafood) that are sometimes difficult to home compost.

Food and garden scraps collected in the lime green lid organics bin will be taken to an organics processing facility operated by Biomix in Stanhope to be turned into compost for re-use.

A new organics processing facility will be established in Huntly in late 2024. This will reduce the transport requirements of the organics collection service, making the process even more sustainable.

The City has 140 litre and 240 litre green organics bins available and there is no cost difference between the sizes.

You can easily arrange a smaller or larger organics bin online or by contacting us.

Recycling bins are currently available in 140lt, 240lt and 360lt capacity and there is no differentiation of the annual collection fee for recycling bins of any size.

The recommended general waste bin size is 140lt. This is the most cost effective and widely utilised size across Greater Bendigo. Prior to the change to a weekly collection of general waste bins, there will be an option to upsize to a 240lt bin. However, this is costly and will increase the waste management charges on your rates notice due to the Victorian Government’s landfill levy fees. We recommend reaching out to our team if you require support in utilising your 140lt general waste bin more effectively.

The City will not charge residents in the new rural collection areas for the service until the 2024/2025 financial year. We understand this is a big change for households, therefore we are providing a free trial period to allow time for households to adjust. 

The charges for this service will be determined in the City’s 2024/2025 budget. 

Yes, an exemption will be available for those households that are able to comply with the City’s Kerbside Exemption Policy and can demonstrate that they are effectively managing all food and garden organic material on their property. 

If your household is approved for an organics exemption, the collection of your general waste bin will remain fortnightly and the amount you are charged for the general waste service will not change.