Rubbish bin FAQ's

If you are concerned about odour building up in your rubbish bin, we recommend smelly waste, such as nappies, pet poo and kitty litter, be tightly sealed before disposal.

If you have pets, it's worth considering installing a pet waste composting system at home. Home composting rebates of up to $40 are available from Council when you purchase an eligible composting system. You can apply for the home composting rebate on our Council website.

We recommend you store your bins in the shade if possible. Bins in direct sunlight will smell more than bins that are in the shade or even partly shaded. You can also line your rubbish bin with a large bin liner and tie that up if you notice your bins getting smelly, for an extra layer of odour protection.

Council does not make money from Waste Service Charges - we use a full cost recovery model for waste services.

The waste service charges on each property reflect the actual costs to provide the waste services to all of our community.

Some activities in the 2023 waste services transition are being undertaken by our contractors and sub-contractors as part of broader waste services collection contracts, the costs of all the waste services are municipality wide, are not itemised and are commercial in confidence.

All waste collection contracts are conducted via Open Tender and in line with Local Government Act requirements. Benchmarking indicates that our costs are in line with or better than other municipalities with similar tenements and geographical size.

The waste service charge per property continues to include the kerbside recycling, FOGO and rubbish collection, hard waste and bundled branches collections for residential properties, the public street and park litter bins, illegally dumped rubbish, waste education and administration costs such as systems maintenance tasks, legislative requirements and reporting and contract management required to deliver the waste services.

We understand that these changes may be challenging for some residents. 

If you are unable to reduce the amount of waste you generate and need some extra waste disposal help you can order an additional bin (fees apply). If you find over time your waste needs reduce, you can cancel the service - this may be useful for families with young children in nappies.

Additional bins can be ordered online or by calling Council on 1300 368 333 and cost $168 for the full 23/24 year, for a fortnightly collection with an estimated delivery time of 5-7 business days for the new bin.

Please note: A charge for an additional bin covers the cost of providing the additional bin and regular collection. If you order an additional bin and cancel it within the same financial year, the full year cost will be applied to the property to account for the cost of supply, delivery and collection of the bin/s associated with the service.

Unfortunately, the contractor doesn’t have the resources to collect rubbish when it isn’t your rubbish week nor can they collect extra bags of rubbish left on the kerbside.

Other options available are:

• Ask friends or family if they can fit some in their bin - often neighbours have space and this is a great way to get to know your neighbours.
• Cleanaway, 80 Wellington Rd, Lysterfield are able to accept general household waste (minimum charge is $120).

You may find some other useful tips on reducing your waste on the following websites:

Do you think your bin collection has been missed? Check your calendar dates to make sure - if you still believe your bin has been missed please report it to us within three business days of your collection day. Please note that the collection day and public holidays are included in the three days.

Our contractor does not have resources to do extra runs to collect additional rubbish or bags of additional rubbish left by the bins.

We understand that these changes may be challenging for some residents. 

If you are unable to reduce the amount of waste you generate and need some extra waste disposal help you can order an additional bin (fees apply). If you find over time your waste needs reduce, you can cancel the service - this may be useful for families with young children in nappies.

Additional bins can be ordered online or by calling Council on 1300 368 333 and cost $168 for the full 23/24 year, for a fortnightly collection with an estimated delivery time of 5-7 business days for the new bin.

Please note: A charge for an additional bin covers the cost of providing the additional bin and regular collection. If you order an additional bin and cancel it within the same financial year, the full year cost will be applied to the property to account for the cost of supply, delivery and collection of the bin/s associated with the service.

Unfortunately, the contractor doesn’t have the resources to collect rubbish when it isn’t your rubbish week nor can they collect extra bags of rubbish left on the kerbside.

Other options available are:

• Ask friends or family if they can fit some in their bin - often neighbours have space and this is a great way to get to know your neighbours.
• Cleanaway, 80 Wellington Rd, Lysterfield are able to accept general household waste (minimum charge is $120).

You may find some other useful tips on reducing your waste on the following websites:

We understand that some households are worried that their bin lid is still green. There is no cause for concern because:

• Your rubbish bin will be emptied, even if your lid is still green.
• We will make sure that all remaining lids are changed.

Changing rubbish bin lids to red (originally dark green) is one of the goals set out by the State Government’s Recycling Victoria: A new economy policy. 

The process of changing rubbish bin lids to red started in Yarra Ranges in July 2023 and will continue through to the end of 2024.

In just a few weeks in July we managed to change over 81% of bin lids to red. This leaves a percentage of bins which still need to be changed, which is a similar outcome to other councils that have tackled the changeover.

When will my red lid be changed?

If your rubbish bin lid has not yet been changed, please see the estimated timelines based on your current bin type:

Let us know if your bin was only partially emptied.

Partially emptied bins usually happens when rubbish has been compacted into the bin and is stuck. You will need to loosen the waste for when the truck returns to empty the bin. Do not put extra waste into your bin - as this will not be collected when the truck returns.

If your household uses nappies you may be concerned about odour in your rubbish bin. We recommend tightly sealing rubbish bags. You can also line your kerbside rubbish bin with a large bin liner and tie that up if you notice your bins getting smelly, for an extra layer of odour protection.

We offer the same advice for incontinence aids, if you are concerned with odour.

We also recommend you store your bins out of the sun if you can. Bins in direct sunlight will smell more than bins that are in the shade or even partly shaded.

You may wish to consider ordering an additional bin. 

Additional bins can be ordered online or by calling Council on 1300 368 333 and cost $168 for the full 23/24 year, for a fortnightly collection with an estimated delivery time of 5-7 business days for the new bin.

Please note: A charge for an additional bin covers the cost of providing the additional bin and regular collection. If you order an additional bin and cancel it within the same financial year, the full year cost will be applied to the property to account for the cost of supply, delivery and collection of the bin/s associated with the service.

Old bin lids will be recycled into new kerbside bins to be supplied to households in the future.

The Victorian State Government has directed that all bin lids across Victoria must be consistent - red for rubbish, yellow for recycling and lime green for food and garden organics (FOGO).

This means when you travel to other local government areas, or people visit our Yarra Ranges region we will all know which bin to put our waste in, increasing the amount we recycle and compost, reduce contamination and reduce waste going to landfill.

This is a requirement all Councils must do as part of the State Government’s Circular Economy Policy. This will mean less confusion when moving around the state, whether you’re travelling or re-locating, for which bin your waste and recycling should go into.

Recent studies into the waste produced by households in Yarra Ranges shows that more than half of the average household rubbish bin contents is made up of materials that can be recycled or composted.  

When those materials are correctly placed in recycling bins and FOGO bins for composting, there is often much less waste left that needs to go to landfill.

Several other councils that have been using a weekly FOGO and fortnightly rubbish collection combination have had significantly less waste being sent to landfill. Reducing our waste sent to landfill is important to protect our environment, reduce climate change and pollution.

Separating our waste allows us to get the most from our resources. 

Larger households or those producing extra waste that cannot be avoided e.g., nappies or medical waste, can choose to order an additional rubbish bin. Additional fees will apply.