Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the Towards Zero Waste Management Plan.

Your feedback helped to shape the final Plan, which was adopted by Council on Monday 24 June 2024.

To view a recording of the Council Meeting and the meeting minutes, go to Council's website. The Towards Zero Waste Management Plan was item 5.1 on the agenda.

Background and context

In 2018, we developed a 4-year Towards Zero Waste Management Plan 2018-23 with a 10-year Vision to achieve positive change in our community. This new Plan will help to deliver the 10-year Vision and put recent legislative changes in place.

To achieve the 10-year Vision, we will use the new Plan to:

• provide a roadmap/workplan for the Waste Management Team over the next 4 years
• inform the community of upcoming changes to waste services
• act on recent legislative changes set by the Victorian Government.

It's essential that the community play a key part in developing the new plan and roadmap for the next four years in waste.

Stage 2 community engagement

During the June 2024 exhibition period, there was a high level of support for the Plan and draft actions. Some of the things we heard from you include:

• general support for the plan, environmental stewardship, and the work Council is doing in this space
• support for waste education initiatives to shift the culture around waste
• suggestions on a range of waste service improvements
• mixed opinions regarding the glass bin, requiring clearer information on the legislated requirements for Council to deliver this service
• support for advocacy on a range of topics including reduced packaging at supermarkets
• consideration of additional future stakeholders including residential, multi-unit developments, commercial properties and schools
• suggestions of community support, engagement, and education regarding waste.

Stage 1 community engagement

From April to June 2023, over 1000 people provided feedback through an online and paper survey sent to over 3,000 randomly selected households across Banyule. Responses have helped us to understand what the community knows about waste management, as well as community habits and expectations for future waste priorities.

Click here to view the Consultation Summary Report, watch the recording of the information session where we spoke about the results or take a look at the key findings below.

• Respondents suggest the following topics for future waste education sessions: general waste education (do’s and don’ts for each bin), waste reduction, food waste management and waste processing (what happens to my waste after it’s collected).
• There were high satisfaction levels amongst respondents across all three waste collection services, with 89% of respondents either very satisfied or satisfied with their recyclables bin service, 83% with their rubbish bin and 82% with their FOGO bin.
• 92% of respondents indicated strong support for contamination management.
• 90% of respondents had high awareness of the Waste Recovery Centre.
  • Items with the highest awareness are paper / cardboard (80%) and e-waste (80%).
  • Items with the lowest awareness were tyres (54%) and mattresses (59%).

View a recording of the November 2023 Trash Talk session where we shared key findings.