Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-13
ISSN 1836-991X
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October 2015
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Contents
Executive summary........................................................................................................................................ 6
Total waste generation ................................................................................................................................. 11
Kerbside collection services ........................................................................................................................ 17
Environmental benefits from kerbside recycling ......................................................................................... 46
Litter and street sweeping services ............................................................................................................. 47
Services to commerce and industry ............................................................................................................ 52
Hard waste collections ................................................................................................................................. 53
Landfill and transfer station and resource recovery centre operations...................................................... 55
Broad trends over twelve years ................................................................................................................... 59
Appendix A Methodology............................................................................................................................ 61
Appendix B Glossary .................................................................................................................................. 63
Appendix C Victorian local governments ................................................................................................... 68
Appendix D Waste generation and diversion rate from kerbside collection services .............................. 71
Appendix E Time series data kerbside services........................................................................................ 80
Appendix F Population and CPI trend figures ........................................................................................... 84
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
i
Figures
Figure 1 Waste generation, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ........................................................................... 11
Figure 2 Diversion rate, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13.................................................................................. 12
Figure 3 Composition of waste collected through kerbside services, Victoria 2012-13 ............................ 13
Figure 4 Tonnes collected for the three main kerbside services, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ................ 13
Figure 5 Waste generation by metro / non-metro local governments, Victoria 2012-13 ........................... 14
Figure 6 Composition of waste generation by metro / non-metro local governments,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 14
Figure 7 Diversion rate by Waste & Resource Recovery Group, Victoria 2012-13 .................................. 15
Figure 8 Kerbside service cost by service provision, Victoria 2012-13 ...................................................... 18
Figure 9 Cost per household by service provision, Victoria 2012-13 ......................................................... 19
Figure 10 Garbage household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13 .................................... 23
Figure 11 Garbage household yield, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13............................................................. 23
Figure 12 Garbage yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............................................................ 24
Figure 13 Garbage cost per tonne, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............................................................... 25
Figure 14 Garbage yield per household by collection system, Victoria 2012-13....................................... 27
Figure 15 Recyclables household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13 .............................. 28
Figure 16 Recyclables yield per household, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13................................................. 29
Figure 17 Recyclables yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13....................................................... 30
Figure 18 Recyclables tonnes collected, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ...................................................... 32
Figure 19 Recyclables cost per household across local governments, Victoria 2012-13 ......................... 33
Figure 20 Recyclables cost per tonne across local governments, Victoria 2012-13 ................................. 34
Figure 21 Cost per tonne, recyclables and garbage kerbside service, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ....... 34
Figure 22 Kerbside recyclables by type of items collected, Victoria 2012-13 ............................................ 35
Figure 23 Contamination rate of kerbside recyclables by metro and
non-metro local governments, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ....................................................... 37
Figure 24 Recyclable yield by collection system, Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................ 38
Figure 25 Green organics tonnes collected, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13................................................. 42
Figure 26 Green organics yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ................................................. 43
Figure 27 Litter and street sweeping services annual service cost, Victoria 2012-13 ............................... 47
Figure 28 Street sweeping, cost per person trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ...................................... 50
Figure 29 Street sweeping annual service cost by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 ................... 51
Figure 30 Number of commercial and industrial premises serviced by kerbside collections,
by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13.................................................................................. 52
Figure 31 Hard waste household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13................................ 54
Figure 32 Number of licensed / unlicensed landfills and TSRRCs, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............ 56
ii
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012–2013
Figure 33 Resource recovery by type of items recovered at TSRRCs, Victoria 2012-13 ......................... 57
Figure 34 Population trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ........................................................................... 59
Figure 35 Tonnes collected for the three main kerbside services, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 .............. 60
Figure 36 Per person waste generation for the three main kerbside services,
Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 .......................................................................................................... 60
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
iii
Tables
Table 1 Waste & Resource Recovery Group by composition of waste stream collected,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 16
Table 2 Diversion rate by Waste & Resource Recovery Group, including drop-off material,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 16
Table 3 Kerbside services summary, Victoria 2012-13............................................................................... 17
Table 4 Kerbside services by proportion of households receiving service, Victoria 2012-13 .................. 20
Table 5 Kerbside services provided by local governments, Victoria 2012-13 ........................................... 20
Table 6 Garbage services summary by service provision area, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13 ................. 22
Table 7 Garbage collection system* by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13..................................... 26
Table 8 Garbage average yields and costs by collection system*, Victoria 2012-13 ................................ 26
Table 9 Recyclable services summary by service provision area, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13.............. 31
Table 10 Kerbside recyclables contamination rate, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ..................................... 36
Table 11 Recyclables average yields, costs and contamination rates by collection system,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 37
Table 12 Correlation between a 240L fortnightly commingled recyclables and garbage collection
system and average household diversion and contamination rates, Victoria 2012-13 ............. 39
Table 13 Garbage and recyclables collection system* by number of local governments,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 39
Table 14 Green organics summary by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 ...................................... 41
Table 15 Green organics collection by frequency of service, Victoria 2012-13 ......................................... 43
Table 16 Green organics average costs and yields by collection system, Victoria 2012-13 .................... 44
Table 17 Green organics average costs and yields for optional user-pays services, Victoria 2012-13 ... 44
Table 18 Green organics collection systems, Victoria 2012-13.................................................................. 45
Table 19 Green organics average costs and yields for on-call services, Victoria 2012-13....................... 45
Table 20 Litter services, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13 ................................................................................. 48
Table 21 Litter clean-up services, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13 ................................................................. 49
Table 22 Street sweeping annual service cost, Victoria 2012-13............................................................... 50
Table 23 Street sweeping annual service cost by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 .................... 51
Table 24 Number of commercial and industrial premises serviced by domestic kerbside
collections, by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 .............................................................. 52
Table 25 Hard waste services by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 .............................................. 53
Table 26 Hard waste collection frequency by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13 ........................... 54
Table 27 Number of local government-owned landfills and TSRRCs by service provision area,
Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................................................................................. 55
Table 28 Main items recovered by source of recovery, Victoria 2012-13 .................................................. 58
Table 29 Transition of Regional Waste Management Groups to Waste & Resource
Recovery Groups ........................................................................................................................... 65
iv
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012–2013
Table 30 Victorian local governments .......................................................................................................... 68
Table 31 Victorian local government by service provision area and metro
and non-metro classification.......................................................................................................... 70
Table 32 Diversion rate by local governments, Victoria 2012-13 ............................................................... 71
Table 33 Recyclables household yield (kg) by local government, Victoria 2012-13 ................................. 74
Table 34 Garbage household yield (kg) by local government, Victoria 2012-13 ....................................... 77
Table 35 Garbage kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13.................................................. 80
Table 36 Recyclables kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............................................ 80
Table 37 Green organics kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13....................................... 81
Table 38 Total waste generation kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13 .......................... 81
Table 39 Diversion rate trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13..................................................................................... 82
Table 40 Hard waste kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............................................. 82
Table 41 Annual service cost trend by kerbside service, 2001-02 to 2012-13 .......................................... 83
Table 42 Cost per person trend by kerbside service, 2001-02 to 2012-13 ................................................ 83
Table 43 Population trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ............................................................................ 84
Table 44 CPI trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13 ........................................................................................ 84
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
v
Executive summary
Objectives
The Victorian Local Government Annual Survey assesses the state’s delivery of kerbside waste
management and recycling services to Victoria’s households by local governments in the 2012-2013
financial year.
This annual report card – now in its twelfth year – provides a regular measure of local government waste
disposal efficiency and sustainability, and provides evidence for delivery on the Statewide Waste and
Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan (SWRRIP). The SWRRIP provides Victoria with the long term
vision and roadmap to guide future planning for waste and resource recovery infrastructure to achieve
an integrated system.
Methodology
The survey was dispatched in late 2013 and completed on Sustainability Victoria’s website by all 79
Victorian local governments. Sustainability Victoria gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of Victoria’s
local governments and Waste & Resource Recovery Groups in achieving a 100% response rate.
There are seven Waste and Resource Recovery Groups (WRRGs) in Victoria. The WRRGs are
Victorian State Government statutory authorities established on 1 August 2014 by s49C(1) of the
Environment Protection Act 1970. The WRRGs succeeded the former Regional Waste Management
Groups (RWMGs). Whilst this change occurred after the 2012-2013 financial year, the data in this report
has been aggregated according to the new WRRGs.
Sustainability Victoria has sought to verify information provided in data collection returns through
rigorous follow-up with individual local governments. However, Sustainability Victoria is not in a position
to validate underlying data in the report. Findings in this report are therefore subject to the accuracy of
data provided by individual local governments.
Findings
The key findings for data collected in 2012-13 are as follows:
1. Total waste generation
More than two million tonnes of kerbside waste (garbage, recyclables and green organics) was collected
in 2012-13, down by 2.7% (or 56,971 tonnes) from the previous financial year. Most of this decrease
was directly attributed to the collection of green organics decreasing by 7.1% (or 28,273 tonnes).
The cost to local governments of kerbside collection exceeded $355 million, an increase of $21.6 million
(6.5%) from the previous year. The cost per person for total waste generation was $62.03 in 2012-13 or
4.5% higher than in 2011-12 and significantly higher than the CPI increase (2.2%) over the same period.
The statewide average diversion rate for recyclables and green organics – i.e. the amount recycled (and
therefore diverted from landfill) – has remained unchanged at 45% since 2011-12.
Garbage accounted for 53% of total waste, up from the 52% reported in 2011-12. The proportion of
garbage collected has steadily decreased since 2001-02 when it represented 70% of total kerbside
waste collected.
2. Kerbside collection services
Analysis of the efficiency of kerbside collection of garbage, recyclables and green organics yielded the
following conclusions about cost, yield, access, collection types and service frequency for each. The cost
per household was highest for the provision of a kerbside garbage service at $97.29 compared to
recyclables and green organics at $28.37 and $52.56 respectively.
6
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Garbage
A little more than 1.1 million tonnes of garbage was collected in 2012-13 or 192kg for every person1 in
Victoria.
Victorian households generated on average 468kg garbage annually – 16kg less than in 2011-12.
The local government service cost to collect garbage averaged $97.29 per household compared to
$89.48 in 2011-12 representing an 7.8% increase which was significantly higher than the CPI increase
over the same period of 2.2%.
As in previous years, local governments using smaller garbage bins generated less waste and had
greater diversion rates for recycling than those using larger bins.
An 80L garbage bin generated on average 28% less waste than a 240L bin.
Recyclables
Recyclables totalled 599,119 tonnes – down 3.2% (19,539 tonnes) from the previous year.
Continuing the trend of the past five years, the service cost for recycling collection ($109.57 per tonne) is
less expensive and achieves greater economy than the alternative and more expensive option of
garbage collection and disposal into landfill ($208.31 per tonne).
Household collections averaged 259kg or 104kg of recyclables generated by every person in Victoria,
6kg less per person than in the previous year.
77 of the 79 local governments (97%) use a best-practice commingled bin system for recyclables
instead of a crate for containers and a tied bundle for paper, the predominant system prior to 2002-03.
Recyclables service costs averaged $28.37 per household per year, $1.89 less than in 2011-12 which
represents a decrease of 6.2% compared to the CPI increase of 2.2% over the same period.
The average contamination rate decreased from 7.0% to 5.9% in 2012-13.
By weight, paper / cardboard accounted for most (58.3%) of recycled material collected, while
miscellaneous containers (glass containers, steel and aluminium cans) accounted for 33.0%, and plastic
containers 8.7%.
Green organics
Of the 79 local governments, 48 provided 60 different green organics collection services. Of these, 19
were regular council bin services (i.e. weekly or fortnightly), while 24 local governments also provided a
regular optional user-pays fortnightly bin green organics collection.
368,951 tonnes of green organics were collected from kerbside services – down 28,273 tonnes (or
7.1%) from 2011-12.
On average, 320kg of green organics was collected per household or 64kg per person down from 71kg
per person in 2011-12.
The cost of providing a green organics service to households increased by 2.4% from $51.35 in
2011-12 to $52.56 in 2012-13, 0.2 percentage points more than the CPI increase of 2.2% over the same
period.
A fortnightly collection was the most common service (70%), yielding an annual average of 310kg per
household for a regular council bin service and 324kg for a user-pays bin system.
1
ABS Catalogue number 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics, June Qtr. 2013, published 17 December 2013. Table 4,
Estimated Residential Population, Persons, Victoria. Victorian 2011–12 population figure has been used to calculate the Victorian
‘per person rate’ in this publication (pop. 5,737,615).
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
7
3. Environmental benefits from kerbside recycling
Applying the findings of Life Cycle Assessment of Kerbside Recyclables in Victoria2 the environmental
savings from kerbside recycling of containers, paper and cardboard for 2012-13 are equivalent to:

saving 2,586 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water (6,466 megalitres of water)

taking 100,933 cars off the road for a year (383,546 tonnes of greenhouse gases)

saving 4,710,974 gigajoules of energy – enough energy to power every household in Victoria to
watch TV for 603 days.
The environmental savings from kerbside recycling 357,590 tonnes of green organics for 2012-13 are
equivalent to:

saving 815 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water (2,038 megalitres of water)

taking 21,644 cars off the road (82,246 tonnes of greenhouse gases)
4. Litter and street sweeping services
The total cost of litter and street sweeping maintenance for local governments was over $94 million – or
$16.43 for every person in Victoria, $1.01 less per person (5.9%) than in 2011-12. Of this:

Maintenance of litter bins, traps and litter clean up (such as the clean-up of illegally dumped
rubbish) cost more than $34 million, or 37% of the total.

Street sweeping services cost a little more than $59 million a year, of which metropolitan local
governments accounted for nearly 79%.

31,679 tonnes of roadside litter and illegally dumped rubbish cost local government nearly $12
million annually to collect.
5. Services to commerce and industry
As part of their kerbside collection services to Victorian households, local governments also provided the
following to non-residential properties:

104,822 commercial and industrial properties received a regular kerbside garbage collection
service.

89,312 commercial and industrial properties received a recycling collection service.
6. Hard waste collections
42 of the 79 Victorian local governments provided a hard waste collection service.
Of the approximately 97,000 tonnes collected, more than 73,000 tonnes were disposed to landfill,
representing a 24% diversion rate.
On average, 56kg of hard waste was collected per household, costing an average of $14.18 per
household, $1.14 or 8.8% more than in 2011-12.
7. Landfill and transfer station and resource recovery centre operations
277 transfer station and resource recovery centres (TSRRCs) operate in Victoria.
Local government-owned and / or operated 85 landfills of which 39 were licensed and 46 unlicensed in
2012-13.
2
Carre, A., Crossin, E., Clune, S. (2013), LCA of Kerbside Recycling in Victoria, Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne.
8
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
19,414 tonnes of packaging material (glass containers, aluminium cans, steel cans, plastic containers
and paper) and 152,864 tonnes of green organics were recovered from TSRRCs3.
Material collected from TSRRCs represented 15.1% of all material recovered from kerbside (recyclables
and green organics) and TSRRCs.
Green organics represented the largest proportion of all items collected from kerbside and TSRRCs
accounting for 45.8% of the total followed by paper with 31.8% and glass containers 15.6%.
8. Conclusion: Broad trends over twelve years
The success of local government efforts to make better use of resources and reduce landfill is clearly
reflected in the effects of their expanded offerings of collection services now available to Victorian
householders.
The efficiencies currently being delivered through mature kerbside recycling systems in Victoria are
evident in the latest Victorian Local Government Annual Survey and in the twelve years since data
collection began. In particular, since 2001-02, for every person in Victoria, less garbage is generated and
more recyclables and green organics are collected.
All 79 local governments now provide a kerbside garbage and recycling collection service to the majority
of their households, with most using an efficient combination of bin systems. A total of 97% of Victorian
households have access to kerbside garbage collection services and 95% to recycling collection. Fortyeight local governments now also offer some form of green organics collection.
Since 2001-02:

The Victorian population has steadily increased by 18.0% from 4.8 million to 5.7 million. The 30.5%
increase in total waste generation (in tonnes) over the same period has not been a consequence of
population growth alone but rather, the result of an expanding collection service offered to more
households and the introduction of a third bin system for green organics.

Although more waste is generated, the amount of garbage collected by local governments (as
distinct from recyclables and green organics) has not followed the same pattern and instead has
decreased by 0.5% over the same 12 year period. Conversely, recyclables collected increased by
nearly 67% and the collection of green organics increased by more than 210%. Both sets of figures
indicate that although Victoria may be generating more waste since 2001-02, households today are
not only better educated and better informed about recycling but also better supported by the
appropriate collection infrastructure from local governments to recover more materials for recycling.

For every person in Victoria, the amount of garbage generated has decreased 15.7%, down from a
high of 228kg per person in 2001-02 to just 192kg in 2012-13. Over the same period the drive to
recycle was on the way up. Recyclables collected increased 41.4%, up from 74kg per person in
2001-02 to 104kg in 2012-13, while the amount of green organics increased by nearly 163% up
from 24kg in 2001-02 to 64kg in 2012-13.
3
Refers to local government owned and operated transfer station and resource recovery centres only. These sites may also be
referred to as drop-off facilities.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
9
Please Note:
This publication supersedes all previous reports as historical figures are periodically updated as new
information becomes available. The trend data in this report commences from 2001-02 rather than in
2000-01 as in previous reports due to reporting differences of the approach used in the collection of the
2000-01 survey data. All trend data has been updated to reflect the new metropolitan / non-metropolitan
changes as well as the establishment of the WRRGs. Refer to Appendix B, Glossary – Waste &
Resource Recovery Groups for an explanation of the changes.
10
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Total waste generation
The focus of this section is the generation of waste by Victorian households.
Victorian household consumption patterns and household waste generation are closely linked to each
other. Waste generation is a clear measure of the state’s progress towards the sustainable use of
resources and the directions set in the SWRRIP.
The Victorian Local Government Annual Survey measures waste collected through kerbside services
when analysing household waste generation. It is important to note that waste recovered and removed
by private contractors is not included in this survey.
The following sections outline the key findings.
Total waste generated
Victorians generated more than two million tonnes of solid waste through garbage, recyclables and
green organics kerbside collection services in 2012-13. This represents an average of 361kg for every
person4 in Victoria. The amount of total waste generated decreased by 2.7% or 56,971 tonnes
compared to 2011-12, yet has increased by nearly 31% since 2001-02 (Figure 1).
Garbage accounted for 53% of the total waste generated from Victorian kerbside collections, while
recyclables decreased by 3.2% and green organics decreased by 7.1% from 2011-12 levels.
Figure 1 Waste generation*, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
2,400
2,070
2,000
1,586
1,556
Tonnes ('000)
1,600
1,197
1,200
800
515
389
400
-
Metro
Non-metro
State
*Waste generation refers to garbage, recyclables and green organics from kerbside
The state average diversion rate (incorporating recyclables and green organics) has risen from 29% in
2001-02 to 45% in 2012-13 and has remained unchanged for the third year in a row. The diversion rate
for recyclables only, remained at 33%. The diversion rate for both scenarios is illustrated in Figure 2.
4
ABS Catalogue number 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics, Jun Qtr. 2013, published 17 December 2013. Table 4,
Estimated Residential Population, Persons Victoria. Victorian 2011–12 population figure has been used to calculate the Victorian
‘per person rate’ in this publication (pop. 5,737,615).
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
11
For the past six years Sustainability Victoria has sought data from local governments about the amounts
of municipal domestic recyclable material collected from TSRRCs. Only materials relating to household
waste typically collected through kerbside services, such as glass bottles, aluminium and steel cans,
plastic containers, paper and green organics, are included in the data tabulated from TSRRCs. Figure 2
demonstrates the impact of including these TSRRC figures in the diversion rate which improves the
state diversion rate by 4 percentage points from 45% to 49%.
Figure 2 Diversion rate, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
60
Diversion rate (%)
50
49
45
40
29
33
30
20
23
10
0
Diversion rate (kerbside recyclables & green organics)
Diversion rate (kerbside recyclables)
Diversion rate (kerbside recyclables, green organics & drop-off recyclables & green organics)
Note that the diversion rate which includes recyclables and green organics (nett of contaminants) is the
current official method used in this publication to benchmark local governments and WRRGs against the
state average diversion rate. This means the state average diversion rate of 45% for 2012-13 is the
official figure that should be quoted and not 33%.
For comparative purposes all three diversion rates by local governments are included in Appendix D,
Table 32. Reporting of the different diversion rates is important to compare local governments that offer
similar services. Not all local governments provide a green waste collection service but provide residents
with drop-off options at TSRRCs instead to accommodate for this. Although all local governments now
provide a recyclables service, not all non-metropolitan councils provide a kerbside recyclables service to
all parts of the municipality but instead offer a drop-off options at TSRRCs. It is not appropriate to
compare the results of different local governments that offer different services.
12
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Composition
Garbage accounted for more than half (53%) of the total amount of waste generated from kerbside
collections (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Composition of waste collected through kerbside services, Victoria 2012-13
Green organics
18%
Garbage
53%
Recyclables
29%
Garbage still represents the greatest component of the waste stream, while the amount of recyclables
and green organics collected over the past twelve years has steadily increased relative to garbage as
shown by Figure 4.
Figure 4 Tonnes collected for the three main kerbside services, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
1,200
Tonnes ('000)
1,000
1,108
1,102
800
599
600
400
359
369
200
119
0
Garbage
Recyclables
Green Organics
The amount of recyclables and green organics collected from kerbside services has increased by nearly
67% and 210% respectively, while garbage has decreased by 0.5% since the baseline survey was
established in 2001-02.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
13
Waste generated per geographic sector
Metropolitan local governments (31 of 79) generated most of Victoria’s total waste from kerbside and
drop-off at TSRRCs, accounting for almost 1.7 million tonnes, or 73% of the total (Figure 5).
Figure 5 Waste generation by metro / non-metro local governments, Victoria 2012-13
1,800
1,600
1,400
Tonnes ('000)
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
Metro
Non-Metro
Kerbside garbage
Kerbside recyclables
Drop-off recyclables
Drop-off green organics
Kerbside green organics
Figure 6 illustrates the relative proportion of material collected by metropolitan and non-metropolitan
local governments from kerbside and drop-off options at TSRRCs. Non-metropolitan local governments
generated as a proportion of their total waste stream 6% less green organics from kerbside collections
and 7% more from drop-off options at TSRRCs compared to metropolitan councils. This figure
underlines the importance of TSRRCs for green organics in non-metropolitan local governments.
Figure 6 Composition of waste generation by metro / non-metro local governments, Victoria 2012-13*
Metro
Drop-off
recyclables
<1%
Kerbside
green
organics
18%
Drop-off
green
organics
5%
Drop-off
recyclables
2%
Kerbside
garbage
50%
Kerbside
recyclables
27%
*Sum of components may not add to 100% because of rounding.
14
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Drop-off
green
organics
12%
Kerbside
green
organics
12%
Kerbside
recyclables
26%
Non-metro
Kerbside
garbage
48%
Waste diversion rates per Waste & Resource Recovery Group
Figure 7 illustrates the diversion rate achieved by each of the seven WRRGs. It provides the diversion
rate (with recyclables and green organics) by region. Barwon South West had the highest diversion rate
of 54%, surpassing the state average rate of 45%.
The Gippsland and the Metropolitan WRRGs were the only other regions with diversion rates equal to or
higher than the state average.
Figure 7 Diversion rate by Waste & Resource Recovery Group, Victoria 2012-13
State
45%
Barwon South Western
54%
Gippsland
46%
Metropolitan
45%
Goulburn Valley
41%
North East
36%
Loddon Mallee
32%
Grampians Central West
27%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
WRRGs that provided a green organics kerbside service have much higher diversion rates than those
that do not. This is evident from Table 2 where the diversion rate for the regions with a green organics
service is considerably higher than those without. Barwon South West for example, shows a diversion
rate of 39% with recyclables only and 54% with the green organics service included. Grampians Central
West on the other hand, does not provide a kerbside green waste service as indicated by its diversion
rate of 26% for recyclables only and 27% with green organics included.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
15
Table 1 shows the proportion of each WRRG’s kerbside waste composition for garbage, recyclables,
green organics and drop-off options at TSRRCs for green organics and recyclables as a percentage of
the total waste stream collected. Green organics from the Barwon South West makes up 23% of its
overall kerbside waste generation, while the Gippsland and Metropolitan WRRGs are 15% and 18%
respectively. All three WRRGs have above average diversion rates. WRRGs that display lower diversion
rates collect very little or no kerbside green organics waste relative to the amount of garbage collected.
Grampians Central West, for example, has a very high overall proportion of garbage (59%) and a lower
proportion of green organics from kerbside (1%) which results in a diversion rate of 27%.
Table 1 Waste & Resource Recovery Group by composition of waste stream
collected, Victoria 2012-13
Composition* of waste stream collected (%)
Waste & Resource
Recovery Group
Barwon South West
Gippsland
Metropolitan
Goulburn Valley
North East
Loddon Mallee
Grampians Central West
State average
Garbage
(kerbside)
43
39
49
49
54
53
59
Recyclables
(kerbside)
28
26
27
26
27
25
25
Green
organics
(kerbside)
23
15
18
9
6
3
1
Recyclables
(drop-off)
1
3
0
2
2
3
2
Green
organics
(drop-off)
5
17
5
14
11
16
12
49
27
16
1
7
*Sum of components may not add to 100% because of rounding.
In many non-metropolitan areas, drop-off options at TSRRCs are often provided in-lieu of a kerbside
service as this is a more cost-effective way to divert material. The impact of including drop-off options at
TSRRCs is illustrated by Table 2.
Table 2 illustrates the influence of including drop-off options on the overall diversion rate for regions.
Barwon South West has a high proportion of green organics collected from kerbside services and a total
diversion rate of 56%.
Table 2 Diversion rate by Waste & Resource Recovery Group, including drop-off* material,
Victoria 2012-13
Diversion rate (%)
Waste & Resource
Recovery Group
Barwon South West
Gippsland
Metropolitan
Goulburn Valley
North East
Loddon Mallee
Grampians Central West
State
Kerbside
recyclables
39
34
33
34
32
30
26
Kerbside recyclables
& green organics
54
46
45
41
36
32
27
Kerbside (recyclables
& green organics)
and drop-off
(recyclables &
green organics)
56
57
48
50
44
45
38
33
44
48%
*Drop-off includes municipal (household) recyclables and green organics collected from transfer stations
and resource recovery centres.
16
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Kerbside collection services
This chapter provides an analysis of local government kerbside collection services. It is divided into four
sections: a general overview, garbage services, recyclables services and green organic services.
Drawing from the data provided by local governments, the focus of each section is on the efficiency of
these services. The key efficiency considerations are:

service costs, expressed both on a per household and per tonne basis

yields (kilograms per household) or quantities collected and,

access to kerbside services.
Overview
This section of the report provides an overview of the kerbside collection services provided by Victorian
local governments. It is important to note that the data does not include waste collected by private
contractors outside the local government system.
In 2012-13, expenditure by Victorian local governments on garbage, recyclables and green organic
kerbside services exceeded $355 million, generating almost 2.1 million tonnes (Table 3).
Table 3 Kerbside services summary, Victoria 2012-13
Garbage
Recyclables
Green organics
State total
$166,555,853
$39,812,515
$49,587,193
$255,955,561
813,316
442,099
300,095
1,555,510
—
417,731
289,192
706,923
1,717,420
1,681,495
917,860
—
$204.79
$90.05
$165.24
$164.55
$96.98
$23.68
$54.02
—
474
263
327
—
$63,027,627
$25,834,223
$11,061,007
$99,922,857
288,834
157,020
68,856
514,710
—
146,087
68,398
214,485
Total households serviced*
642,344
632,477
236,125
—
Cost per tonne
$218.21
$154.95
$160.64
$194.13
$98.12
$40.85
$46.84
—
450
248
292
—
$229,583,480
$65,646,738
$60,648,200
$355,878,418
1,102,150
599,119
368,951
2,070,220
—
563,818
357,590
921,409
2,359,764
2,313,972
1,153,985
—
$208.31
$109.57
$164.38
$171.90
$97.29
$28.37
$52.56
—
467
259
320
—
Metro
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
Tonnes processed / recycled
Total households serviced*
Cost per tonne
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
Non-metro
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
Tonnes processed / recycled
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
Total
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
Tonnes processed / recycled
Total households serviced*
Cost per tonne
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
*Total households serviced may also include some commercial and industrial properties, Refer to Appendix B, Glossary
for more details.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
17
Overall cost of kerbside collection services
The provision of a kerbside garbage collection service accounted for 65% of the $355 million5 spent by
Victorian local governments on kerbside collection services during 2012-13 (Figure 8).
Figure 8 Kerbside service cost by service provision, Victoria 2012-13
Green organics
17%
Recyclables
18%
Garbage
65%
The total expenditure for garbage, recyclables and green organics collections cost local governments in
excess of $355 million, roughly $21million more than for 2011-12, and represents an increase of 6.5%,
4.3 percentage points more than the CPI increase over the same period. The cost per person for total
kerbside waste generation is $62.03 in 2012-13, $2.67 more than in the previous year and represents a
4.5% increase since 2011-12. This is 2.3 percentage points higher than the CPI increase of 2.2%. Since
2001-02, the CPI has increased by 33.6%, whereas the cost per person for garbage increased by
99.1%, for recyclables 7.0% and green organics by 263%.
It should be noted that the cost per person for green organics started from a very low base of $2.91
hence the very large increase observed since 2001-02.
The collection and disposal of kerbside garbage now costs every person in Victoria $40.01, recyclables
$11.44 and green organics $10.57. Refer to Appendix E – Table 41 for the time series data of the
annual service cost for each of the kerbside services.
Figure 9 shows the costs associated with each of the individual kerbside services offered to households.
The cost of providing a kerbside garbage service to 97 per cent of Victorian households in 2012-13 was
$97.29, more than three times the cost of providing a comparable kerbside recycling service to 95 per
cent of Victorian households at $28.37. Although the cost of providing a green organics service to 49 per
cent of Victorian households was $44.73 less than the garbage service cost, it was $24.19 higher than
the provision of a kerbside recycling service at $28.37.
5
The cost trend data including cost per person for the three main kerbside services are shown in Appendix E, tables 41 to 42.
18
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Figure 9 Cost per household by service provision, Victoria 2012-13
$97.29
$52.56
$28.37
Garbage
Recyclables
Green organics
Geographic comparison
Metropolitan local governments generated 24kg more garbage per household than non-metropolitan
local governments but recovered 15kg more recyclables and 35kg more green organics per household
than non-metropolitan households (Table 3).
The cost of providing kerbside services to households was higher for garbage and recyclables services
in non-metropolitan local governments. Garbage service was $1.14 higher per household annually in
non-metropolitan local governments, recyclables services cost $17.17 more, while green organics was
less expensive to deliver by $7.18 (Table 3).
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
19
Overall access to kerbside collection services
Access to kerbside collection services is high with 97% of Victorian households in 2012-13 having
access to kerbside garbage services, 95% to recyclables collections and 49% to a green organics
service (Table 4). Access to all three services is higher in metropolitan local government areas than in
non-metropolitan areas.
Table 4 Kerbside services by proportion of households
receiving service, Victoria 2012-13
Kerbside service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Per cent
Garbage
99
91
97
Recyclables
97
90
95
Green organics
55
35
49
While Table 4 shows access to services at the household level, Table 5 presents the number of local
governments providing each service.
Table 5 Kerbside services provided by local governments, Victoria 2012-13
Metro
(no.)
Non-metro
(no.)
State total
(no.)
Total as a proportion
of local governments
(%)
Garbage
31
48
79
100
Recyclables
31
48
79
100
Green organics
30
18
48
61
Hard waste
31
11
42
53
Street sweeping
30
45
75
95
Kerbside service
All 79 Victorian local governments provide a kerbside garbage and recyclables service to residents.
While 61% of local governments provided a green organics service, 63% were located in metropolitan
areas and 37% in non-metropolitan local government areas.
Hard waste collections are provided by 53% of local governments. In line with the green organics
service, the trend is for metropolitan local governments to provide hard waste collection rather than
non-metropolitan local governments where drop-off options at TSRRCs are more common and are
provided in lieu of a regular kerbside service.
20
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Garbage services
This section of the report analyses local government kerbside services for the collection of garbage.
Access
All 79 local governments have a kerbside garbage collection service covering 97% of Victorian
households (see Tables 4 and 5).
Table 6 details the variations between garbage costs and yields by service provision areas.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
21
Table 6 Garbage services summary by service provision area6, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13
Inner metropolitan
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
State total
2012-13
Annual service cost
47,661,956
97,774,932
23,272,921
25,068,524
26,681,768
9,123,379
229,583,480
Tonnes collected
220,787
512,345
93,353
126,178
113,142
36,345
1,102,150
Total households serviced1
514,133
1,013,044
218,136
262,729
271,399
80,323
2,359,764
Cost per tonne
$215.87
$190.84
$249.30
$198.68
$235.83
$251.02
$208.31
$92.70
$96.52
$106.69
$95.42
$98.31
$113.58
$97.29
429
506
428
480
417
452
467
$21,307,293
$22,457,745
$25,398,082
$7,398,069
$204,739,774
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
2011-12
Annual service cost
$42,322,713
$85,855,872
Tonnes collected
228,796
510,904
92,913
122,905
119,490
36,301
1,111,309
Total households serviced1
499,561
971,358
212,323
264,676
265,071
75,004
2,287,993
Cost per tonne
$184.98
$168.05
$229.33
$182.72
$212.55
$203.80
$184.23
$84.72
$88.39
$100.35
$84.85
$95.82
$98.64
$89.48
526
438
464
451
484
486
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
458
Per cent change
Annual service cost
12.6
13.9
9.2
11.6
5.1
23.3
12.1
Tonnes collected
-3.5
0.3
0.5
2.7
-5.3
0.1
-0.8
2.9
4.3
2.7
-0.7
2.4
7.1
3.1
16.7
13.6
8.7
8.7
11.0
23.2
13.1
Total households serviced
Cost per tonne
Cost per household
9.4
9.2
6.3
12.5
2.6
15.1
8.7
Household yield (kg)
-6.2
-3.9
-2.3
3.5
-7.6
-6.5
-3.9
*Total households serviced may also include some commercial and industrial properties. Refer to Appendix B, Glossary for more details.
6
Refer to Appendix B - Glossary for an explanation of the criteria for each of the service provision areas, and Appendix C Table 30 and 31 for a list of local governments by service provision area.
22
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Yields
Victorians generated an average of 467kg of garbage per household in 2012-13, 19kg less than the
previous period but this varied between local governments (see Figure 10). On average, each person in
Victoria generated 192kg of garbage, which is down by 5kg per person from 2011-127.
Figure 10 Garbage household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13
40
Average household yield 467 kg
Number of local governments
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
More
Household yield (kg)
Victorian households have steadily reduced garbage generation since the baseline was established in
2001-02 (see Figure 11). Households generated 19kg less garbage in 2012-13 compared with 2011-12.
Figure 11 Garbage household yield, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
700
Household yield (kg)
600
581
500
540
536
501
400
490
479
475
473
475
488
486
467
300
200
100
0
Since the baseline survey of 2001-02, household garbage generation has steadily decreased by nearly
20%, or 114kg per household, from 581kg to 467kg.
7
State population figures from previous years are updated with revised figures, hence direct comparison between different
publication years may show small variations in the per capita calculation of waste generation. Refer to Appendix F – Table 43,
Population figures for the updated trend figures.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
23
Figure 12 shows the amount of garbage generated per person8 in Victoria. Although the per person
trend has remained stable since 2006-07, significant reductions have occurred since 2001-02, with 36kg
or nearly 16% less generated per person.
Figure 12 Garbage yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
250
228
Yield (kg per person)
200
215
213
203
200
194
193
191
193
197
197
192
150
100
50
0
Costs
The cost of providing a garbage service to every person in Victorian in 2012-13 was $40.01, up 8.9% or
$3.27 more per person than in 2011-12. The increase in the cost per person for the provision of a
garbage service was 6.7 percentage points higher than the increase of the CPI over the same period.
8
Refer to Appendix E to view the trend of garbage tonnes generated and Appendix F for the population figures used for the derived
per capita calculations
24
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Geographic comparison
Non-metropolitan local governments generated on average, about 5% or 24kg less garbage than
metropolitan local governments per household per year (Table 3) but continue to pay higher prices to
deliver their services with the cost per tonne $13.42 higher than metropolitan local governments.
Cost per tonne and yield per household varied between local government service provision areas (Table
6). Definitions of the six service provision areas used in Table 6 are provided in Appendix B. A list of all
local governments classified by service provision area, WRRG and metropolitan / non-metropolitan
classification is located in Appendix C.
Small Provincial local governments recorded the lowest yield for garbage at 417kg, 50kg less per
household compared to the state average of 467kg.
Rural Townships had both the highest cost per tonne and the highest cost per household for garbage at
$251.02 and $113.58 respectively, well above the state averages of $208.31 and $97.29 (Table 6).
Figure 13 illustrates the steady increase in cost per tonne since 2001-02 and represents an increase of
$120 over 12 years.
Figure 13 Garbage cost per tonne, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
$250
Cost per tonne ($)
$200
208
186
167
$150
$100
88
95
105
113
122
128
132
142
147
$50
$0
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
25
Collection system
The 120L garbage bin continues to be the most common garbage bin collection system in use, with 50
(63%) of local governments using this system (Table 7).
Table 7 Garbage collection system* by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Collection
system
Inner
Metropolitan
Outer
Metropolitan
Melbourne
Fringe
Major
Provincial
Small
Provincial
Rural
Township
State
total
80L
3
1
1
1
3
—
9
120L
6
11
4
2
15
12
50
140L
—
5
1
3
5
3
17
240L
1
—
—
—
1
1
3
State totals
10
17
6
6
24
16
79
*Refers to the predominant bin type used by the local government (see Appendix B, Glossary for definition of predominant bin)
The 120L garbage bins are the predominant bin used in nearly all service provision areas, except in
major provincial areas where the predominant collection system is a 140L bin. The largest garbage bin
(240L) is still used by three (4%) local governments.
Table 8 shows how yields and costs are affected by the size of the garbage collection system employed.
Table 8 Garbage average yields and costs by collection system*, Victoria 2012-13
Collection system
Cost per tonne
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
80L
$217.99
$92.14
423
120L
$212.59
$94.69
445
140L
$194.25
$107.74
555
240L
$189.66
$110.65
583
State average
$208.31
$97.29
467
*Refers to the predominant bin type used by the local government (see Appendix B, Glossary for definition of predominant bin)
Findings over the past 12 years have consistently shown that as the bin size increases, the
corresponding household yield increases. Smaller bins, such as the preferred 80L bin produced on
average 423kg of garbage per household per year, compared to the 240L which yielded 583kg per
household. This represents 160kg (38%) more garbage generated annually by households with a 240L
bin compared to the 80L.
26
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
The impact of using larger garbage bin systems compared with smaller systems is clearly illustrated by
Figure 14. The correlation between the garbage bin size and household yield generation has been
observed since 2001-02 when the survey was first conducted.
The implementation of a smaller bin system by local governments is one means to reduce the amount of
garbage generated.
Figure 14 Garbage yield per household by collection system, Victoria 2012-13
700
Household yield (kg)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
80L
120L
140L
240L
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
27
Recyclables services
This section of the report analyses local government kerbside services for the collection of recyclables
(i.e. plastic containers, glass bottles, aluminium and steel cans) and paper / cardboard.
Costs, yields, access to services and geographic comparison
Access
All 79 local governments run a kerbside recyclables service, providing access for 95% of Victorian
households (Table 4).
Yields
On average, 259kg of recyclables were collected per household per year (Figure 15). This represents
approximately 104kg for every person in Victoria.
Figure 15 Recyclables household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13
70
182 kg per household
minimum yield Preferred Service
Standard
Number of local governments
60
50
Average Yield of 259 kg per household
3 local governments
(of 79) below the
minimum yield
40
30
20
10
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Household yield (kg)
Sustainability Victoria has developed a Guide to Preferred Standards for Kerbside Recycling in Victoria.
The collection systems outlined in the guide are the:

240L commingled bin9 collected fortnightly

240L split recyclables bin10 collected fortnightly

120L commingled bin collected weekly.
9
A commingled bin refers to one collection system used to accept containers and paper mixed together.
10
A split recyclables bin refers to the collection of containers and paper in one collection system that is partitioned down the middle to
accept both recyclables streams.
28
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
The guide outlines minimum performance criteria for a kerbside recyclables system, including:

minimum annual household yield of 182kg

maximum cost per household of $42 for metropolitan and larger provincial areas, and $50 for
rural areas

maximum cost per tonne of $170 for metropolitan and large provincial areas, and $200 for rural
areas.
In 2012-13, the state average household yield of 259kg was 77kg higher than the 182kg average
minimum efficiency measure established in the guide. This represents 42% more than the minimum
efficiency measure. The household yield has decreased by 14kg since 2011-12, while the per person
yield has decreased by 5kg since 2011-12.
Although the household yield of recyclables varied around this average (Figure 16), 94% of local
governments are above the minimum efficiency yield of 182kg.
Victorians have successfully increased their recyclables yield over the past 12 years but for the fifth year
in a row, the household yield has fallen from the high of 289kg per household set in 2007-08 (Figure 16).
Anecdotal information suggests that this may be attributed to more light weight material being introduced
in the recyclables stream.
Figure 16 Recyclables yield per household, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
350
300
Household yield (kg)
289
267
250
251
200
210
273
286
284
279
273
259
224
195
150
100
50
0
The household yield for recyclables has risen from 195kg in 2001-02 to 259kg in 2012-13, representing
a 33% (64kg) increase.
On average, households in metropolitan local governments generated 15kg, or 6% more recyclables per
household per year, than those in non-metropolitan municipalities (Table 3).
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
29
Figure 17 shows the amount of recyclables generated per person in Victoria. Although the per person
trend has remained relatively stable since 2007-08, significant increases have occurred since 2001-02,
with 30kg or 41% more recyclables generated per person.
Figure 17 Recyclables yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
140
Yield (kg per person)
120
100
105
109
115
113
112
112
110
104
98
80
87
81
60
74
40
20
0
Geographic comparison
Table 9 summarises the variations between recyclables costs and yields by service provision area.
30
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 9 Recyclable services summary by service provision area, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13
Inner metropolitan
Outer metropolitan
Melbourne fringe
Major provincial
Small provincial
Rural township
State total
$65,646,738
2012-13
Annual service cost
$12,752,939
$20,862,156
$7,357,493
$7,015,167
$13,274,946
$4,384,037
Tonnes collected
115,120
270,911
63,746
67,119
64,028
18,196
599,119
Total households serviced*
504,925
987,436
217,165
258,104
268,069
78,273
2,313,972
Cost per tonne
$110.78
$77.01
$115.42
$104.52
$207.33
$240.93
$109.57
$25.26
$21.13
$33.88
$27.18
$49.52
$56.01
$28.37
228
274
294
260
239
232
259
$68,541,922
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
2011-12
Annual service cost
$14,551,354
$21,147,167
$8,364,732
$7,670,895
$12,565,781
$4,241,992
Tonnes collected
120,918
281,620
64,071
68,887
64,401
18,761
618,658
Total households serviced*
493,357
963,826
215,961
255,671
261,220
74,882
2,264,917
Cost per tonne
$120.34
$75.09
$130.55
$111.35
$195.12
$226.11
$110.79
$29.49
$21.94
$38.73
$30.00
$48.10
$56.65
$30.26
245
292
297
Per cent change
269
247
251
273
-12.36
-1.35
-12.04
-8.55
5.64
3.35
-4.22
-4.80
-3.80
-0.51
-2.57
-0.58
-3.01
-3.16
2.34
2.45
0.56
0.95
2.62
4.53
2.17
-7.94
2.55
-11.59
-6.13
6.26
6.55
-1.10
Cost per household
-14.35
-3.70
-12.52
-9.40
2.95
-1.13
-6.25
Household yield (kg)
-6.94
-6.04
-1.17
-3.33
-3.30
-7.38
-5.16
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
Total households serviced*
Cost per tonne
*Total households serviced may also include some commercial and industrial properties. Refer to Appendix B, Glossary, households serviced for more details.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
31
Melbourne fringe local governments delivered the highest average recyclables yield of all service
provision areas, with 294kg per household compared with the state average of 259kg. Rural Township
areas have the highest cost per tonne at $240.93, more than double the state average of $109.57. Rural
Township areas also have the highest cost per household with $56.01 compared to Outer metropolitan
areas with the lowest cost of $21.13.
Figure 18 illustrates the steady increase in tonnes of recyclables collected since 2001-02.
Figure 18 Recyclables tonnes collected, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
700
600
Tonnes ('000)
604
500
537
608
613
622
619
599
561
496
400
431
397
300
359
200
100
0
The quantity of recyclables collected has risen from around 359,000 tonnes in 2001-02 to 599,000
tonnes in 2012-13. This represents an increase of about 240,000 tonnes, or 67%, since 2001-02. The
increase in tonnes collected can be largely attributed to the increase in the number of local governments
that have adopted the preferred service standard for kerbside recycling (commingled bin systems). The
majority of local governments, 77 (97%) now use a 240L or 120L commingled bin for recyclables instead
of crate-based systems. All 79 Victorian local governments provide access to a kerbside recyclables
service covering 95% of Victorian households (Tables 4 and 5).
32
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Costs
Figure 19 shows the average household cost of $28.37 per year for a kerbside recyclables service and
the wide variation around this average. The average household cost is $1.89 less (6.3%) than in
2011-12. The cost11 of providing a recyclables service to every person in Victoria in 2012-13 was
$11.44, down 6% or $0.72 less per person than in 2011-12. The decrease in the cost per person for the
provision of a recyclables is in contrast to the CPI increase of 2.2 per cent over the same period.
Figure 19 Recyclables cost per household across local governments, Victoria 2012-13
35
Average cost
of $28.37 per
household
Number of local governments
30
20 local governments above the
maximum $50 per household cost,
Preferred Service Standard
25
20
15
10
5
0
$0
$20
$40
$60
$80
$100
$120
Cost per household
Of the 20 local governments with recyclable costs above the highest band of $50 per household, 19
(95%) are from non-metropolitan areas. This illustrates the continuing challenge associated with greater
travel distances and lower urban population densities in containing the costs of delivering optimum
kerbside recycling services. In such cases, it may be more cost-effective to provide high-quality TSRRCs
to the standard outlined in Sustainability Victoria’s Guide to Best Practice at Resource Recovery and
Waste Transfer Facilities.
11
Refer to Appendix E for the trend data for kerbside recyclables for cost and cost per person, table 36.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
33
The average cost per tonne of $109.57 is significantly less than the maximum of $170 per tonne for
metropolitan and large provincial local governments and $200 for rural, established in the Guide to
Preferred Standards for Kerbside Recycling in Victoria (see Figure 20). Of the 23 local governments with
recyclable costs above the maximum of $200 per tonne, all 23 are from non-metropolitan areas. This
again highlights the difficulties faced by non-metropolitan local governments in delivering a cost-effective
kerbside service.
Figure 20 Recyclables cost per tonne across local governments, Victoria 2012-13
40
Number of local governments
23 local governments above the maximum
cost per tonne of $200,
Preferred Service Standard
Average cost
of $109.57
per tonne
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
$0
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$600
More
Cost per tonne
While the cost per tonne for recyclables has decreased steadily since 2001-02 from $145 to less than
$110, the corresponding cost per tonne for garbage collection and disposal has increased from $88 to
over $208 per tonne (Figure 21). These figures reveal that recycling waste material is cost effective
compared to the more expensive option of disposing of garbage to landfill. As the landfill levy increases
over time, the potential benefit and savings achieved from recycling will provide greater opportunity for
resource recovery in Victoria.
Figure 21 Cost per tonne, recyclables and garbage kerbside service, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
$225
$208
$200
$175
Cost per tonne
$150
$145
$125
$100
$75
$110
$88
$50
$25
$0
Garbage
34
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Recyclables
Materials collected
Paper items were the largest category of recyclables collected through kerbside recycling services,
accounting for 58.3% by weight of all recyclables (Figure 22).
Figure 21. Kerbside recyclables by types of items collected, Victoria 2012-13
Figure 22 Kerbside recyclables by type of items collected, Victoria 2012-1312
Recyclables
collected
599,119 tonnes
Misc. containers
33.0%
Glass clear
59.7%
Glass green
16.8%
Glass brown
23.5%
Glass
88.6%
Paper
58.3%
Plastic containers
8.7%
Paper white
office
3.2%
PET
30.7%
HDPE clear
78.8%
Steel cans
8.1%
Paper mixed
62.8%
HDPE
40.8%
HDPE coloured
21.2%
Aluminium cans
3.3%
Cardboard
33.2%
PVC
0.2%
Liquid
paperboard
0.8%
Other plastics
28.3%
The second largest category of material collected is miscellaneous containers, with 33.0%. Of this
category, glass accounted for the largest component with 88.6%, which represents 29.2% of the entire
kerbside recyclables stream. Plastic containers, due to their light weight, made up only 8.7%. These
proportions are very similar to previous results.
12
Estimates of the material composition from kerbside recycling are based on 56 detailed returns from local governments for plastic
containers, miscellaneous containers and paper products.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
35
Contamination
Contamination is defined as material that cannot be reprocessed. This can include broken glass (that is,
it is recyclable but unable to be sorted out from the recycling stream) or plastics not normally collected,
such as plastic film. Contamination rates differed for each type of material collected.
Recycling contamination levels averaged 5.9% of quantities collected for 2012-13, lower than the
2011-12 rate of 7.0%.
Table 10 shows the contamination rate since 2001-02 by metropolitan, non-metropolitan and state
averages. The contamination rate has fluctuated from year to year but generally this is more the effect of
the accuracy of the data reported by councils rather than the actual change in contamination. The overall
trend though shows that non-metropolitan councils have a larger contamination rate than metropolitan
councils (Figure 23).
Table 10 Kerbside recyclables contamination
rate, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
Contamination rate (%)
NonMetro
metro
State
Year
2001-02
6.3
7.7
6.6
2002-03
5.7
10.7
6.7
2003-04
7.9
11.3
8.7
2004-05
9.7
12.4
10.3
2005-06
11.0
12.8
11.5
2006-07
9.5
11.4
10.0
2007-08
9.8
12.0
10.3
2008-09
8.1
10.9
8.8
2009-10
6.6
10.1
7.5
2010-11
8.1
8.6
8.3
2011-12
6.5
8.6
7.0
2012-13
5.5
7.0
5.9
36
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Figure 23 Contamination rate of kerbside recyclables by metro and non-metro local governments,
Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
14
12
Contamination rate (%)
10
8
6
7.7
7.0
6.3
5.5
4
2
0
Metro
Non-metro
Table 11 illustrates the contamination rates found for the various collection systems employed for
kerbside recyclables.
Table 11 Recyclables average yields, costs and contamination rates by collection system*,
Victoria 2012-13
Collection system
120L commingled weekly
Number of local
governments
Cost per
tonne
Cost per
household
Household
yield (kg)
Contamination
rate (%)
6
$103.88
$21.95
211
70
$108.28
$28.54
264
5.5
240L commingled weekly
1
2
np
np
356
189
13.7
Other**
np13
np
79
$109.57
$28.37
259
5.9
240L commingled fortnightly
State average
8.8
9.1
*Refers to the predominant bin system used by the local government
**Refers to a fortnightly 240L bin for containers & tied bundle for paper monthly, and a weekly crate (for containers) & tied bundle
(paper) monthly collection systems
The 240L commingled weekly bin system had the higher contamination rate of 13.7%, compared to the
240L commingled fortnightly system with 5.5%.
Collection system and service frequency
There are currently five different combinations of collection systems (or bin types) used by Victorian local
governments. The majority of local governments have adopted the preferred service standards and
have provided a more consistent approach to delivering a kerbside recyclables service, compared to
past years where there were at least 14 different systems in use.
The predominant system is a 240L commingled bin provided fortnightly. This system is used by 70
(89%) local governments. The crate and tied bundle system is now used by only one local government.
The best-practice bin systems (240L commingled fortnightly or 120L commingled weekly) are used by
76 (96%) of all Victorian local governments.
13
Where there are less than 3 councils in any particular cell, data relating to cost is not published.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
37
Collection system
The collection system has a direct impact on yields and costs.
A 240L fortnightly commingled bin system yields 53kg (25%) more per household annually than a 120L
weekly commingled recyclables collection system.
Because of the very small number of local governments using ‘Other’ systems, this data should be
interpreted with caution as the systems are very different and the averages could be misleading
compared to the 120L and 240L bin systems.
Figure 24 illustrates yields achieved by the most common kerbside recyclables collection systems used
in Victoria.
Figure 24 Recyclable yield by collection system, Victoria 2012-13
300
Household yield (kg)
250
200
150
100
50
0
120L commingled weekly
240L commingled fortnightly
Correlation between garbage and recyclables collection system size and diversion rate
The difference in diversion rate achieved by matching the most common recycling system (240L
commingled) to the various garbage bins is illustrated by Table 12. Using smaller garbage bins clearly
increases the proportion of recyclables collected, resulting in more efficient kerbside recovery.14 This
relationship between the recycling and garbage systems has been clearly evident in each survey since
the 2001-02 benchmark survey and is reflected again in the 2012-13 data.
PT
14
Diversion rate is calculated as the quantity of recyclables (net of contaminants) divided by the quantity of recyclables and garbage
collected and expressed as a percentage.
38
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 12 Correlation between a 240L fortnightly commingled recyclables and garbage collection
system* and average household diversion and contamination rates, Victoria 2012-13
240L fortnightly commingled recycling collection system
Garbage
collection system
80L
Diversion rate (%)
39
Contamination rate (%)
1.6
120L
35
5.6
140L
29
7.2
240L
21
11.5
State average
33
5.5
*Refers to predominant collection system used by local governments
This same trend has been observed with other size recycling systems in previous surveys.
Table 12 clearly shows that using an 80L garbage bin in conjunction with a 240L commingled
recyclables bin delivers the highest average diversion rates of 39%. In contrast, matching the 240L
garbage bin to the 240L recyclables bin delivers the lowest diversion rate of 21%, 18 percentage points
less than the 80L garbage bin combination system. The contamination rate also increases as the
garbage bin size increases relative to the recycling bin.
Table 13 illustrates the various combinations of the different garbage and recyclables systems used by
local governments during 2012-13. In Victoria the most common combination is a 240L commingled
fortnightly recyclables bin with a 120L garbage bin. This system is used by 44 or 56% of local
governments.
Table 13 Garbage and recyclables collection system* by number of local governments,
Victoria 2012-13
Garbage collection system
Recyclables collection system
120L commingled weekly
80L
2
120L
4
140L
—
240L
—
Total
6
240L commingled fortnightly
7
44
240L fortnightly (containers) & tied bundle (paper) monthly
—
1
17
2
70
—
—
1
240L commingled Weekly
—
—
Crate (containers) weekly & tied bundle (paper) monthly
—
1
—
1
1
—
—
1
Total number of local governments
9
50
17
3
79
*Refers to the predominant collection system used by local governments
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
39
Green organics services
This section of the report looks at green organics kerbside collection services provided by Victorian local
governments.
Access
Of Victorian households, 49% in 48 local governments had access to green organics kerbside collection
services (Tables 4 and 5). The 48 local governments provide 60 different services to their residents
which may have included a kerbside green bin service coupled with an on-call service.
Yields
In 2012-13, the average yield of green organics collected per household per year was 320kg (Table 14).
This represents a 10% decrease since 2011-12, or 35kg less per household15.
The cost and tonnes collected for the green organics service across service provision areas are
summarised in Table 14.
15
Please Note: Previous reporting on the total households serviced was found to contain double counting of properties serviced. A
thorough validation process was undertaken in 2009-10 to rectify these issues for all previous periods. This report contains the most
up-to-date and accurate data available. As a result, the number of properties serviced has decreased significantly and the yield per
household has increased. The data presented in this report supersedes all previous reports.
40
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 14 Green organics summary by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Inner metropolitan
Outer metropolitan
Melbourne fringe
Major provincial
Small provincial
Rural township
State total
2011-13
Annual service cost
$9,053,966
$33,527,380
$7,522,418
$7,584,196
$2,409,127
$551,113
49,160
224,712
29,422
46,303
16,377
2,977
368,951
Total households serviced*
176,422
670,891
79,697
152,676
63,375
10,924
1,153,985
Cost per tonne
$184.17
$149.20
$255.67
$163.79
$147.11
$185.15
$164.38
$51.32
$49.97
$94.39
$49.68
$38.01
$50.45
$52.56
279
335
369
303
258
272
320
Tonnes collected
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
$60,648,200
2011-12
Annual service cost
$8,757,532
$32,376,421
$6,796,863
$7,190,187
$2,447,532
$560,117
$58,128,652
51,845
248,616
28,385
50,498
14,689
3,055
397,087
Total households serviced*
170,183
663,460
74,189
151,317
61,723
11,133
1,132,005
Cost per tonne
$168.92
$130.23
$239.46
$142.39
$166.62
$183.34
$146.39
$51.46
$48.80
$91.62
$47.52
$39.65
$50.31
$51.35
305
375
383
334
238
274
351
Tonnes collected
Cost per household
Household yield (kg)
Per cent change
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
3.4
3.6
10.7
5.5
-1.6
-1.6
4.3
-7.1
-5.2
-9.6
3.7
-8.3
11.5
-2.6
Total households serviced*
3.7
1.1
7.4
0.9
2.7
-1.9
1.9
Cost per tonne
9.0
14.6
6.8
15.0
-11.7
1.0
12.3
Cost per household
-0.3
2.4
3.0
4.5
-4.1
0.3
2.3
Household yield (kg)
-8.6
-10.7
-3.6
-9.2
8.6
-0.6
-8.9
*Total households serviced refer to the number of households that were serviced by any of the green organics kerbside services, such as a regular fortnightly collection, an on-call service or a user-pays
optional service. Green organics collected from hard waste collected may also be included in some of these figures.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
41
A total of 368,951 tonnes of green organics were collected during 2012-13, 28,273 tonnes less than in
2011-12. This represents a decrease of 7.1% over the previous period. Of the amount collected, 97%
was processed. Quantities not processed may have been sent to landfill or burnt due to contamination
or limited access opportunities to a green organics processing facility.
The quantities of green organics collected over time are shown in Figure 25.
Figure 25 Green organics tonnes collected, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
450
400
390
Tonnes ('000)
350
369
300
315
250
239
200
257
248
256
267
179
150
100
397
141
119
50
0
The quantity of green organics collected since 2001-02 has more than tripled. During this time, there has
been an expansion to a three bin system, being generally one small bin for garbage, one large bin for
recyclables and another large bin for green organics.
This has encouraged householders to divert green organics from landfill. Quantities collected over the
five years prior to 2009-10 remained relatively stable and without any large changes. This can be
attributed largely to the prevailing drought conditions experienced in Victoria and the watering restrictions
enforced in many parts of the state at that time.
The large increase spanning 2009-10 and 2010-11 can be attributed to the 10-year drought coming to
an end in Victoria and the ‘10 / 30 rule’ introduced by the state government in August 2009 which
allowed residents in bushfire-prone areas to clear trees within 10 metres and shrubs within 30 metres of
their homes without a permit.
42
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Figure 26 shows the amount of green organics generated per person in Victoria. Significant increases
have occurred since 2001-02, with 40kg or 163% more generated per person in 2012-13.
Figure 26 Green organics yield per person, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
80
70
70
71
Yield (kg per person)
60
64
58
50
47
40
50
48
49
50
36
30
29
20
24
10
0
Costs
The cost of providing this service is now more than $60 million a year, an increase of $1.7 million or
3.0% since 2011-12. This represents an average cost of $52.56 per household per year, up $1.21 per
household or 2.3% over the previous period. The cost of providing a kerbside green organics service to
every person in Victorian in 2012-13 was $10.57, up 1.1% or $0.71 more per person than in 2011-12.
The increase in the cost per person for the provision of a green waste service was lower than the CPI
increase of 2.2 per cent over the same period.
Frequency
A frequent (weekly, fortnightly) green organics collection service was provided by 43 local governments
(Table 15), of which 24 were of an optional user-pays fortnightly service.
Table 15 Green organics collection by frequency of service, Victoria 2012-13*
Predominant frequency
of service
Inner
metropolitan
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
On-call
5
8
1
—
1
—
15
Weekly
—
—
1
—
—
—
1
Fortnightly
—
8
1
3
4
2
18
Monthly
—
—
—
—
—
1
1
Monthly (user pays)
—
—
—
—
1
—
1
Fortnightly (user pays)
7
9
3
2
3
—
24
Total
12
25
6
5
9
3
60
Total
*Local governments that have more than one frequency of collection are listed here as separate services. Only 48 local
governments offered a green organics service, some offered more than one type of service to residents.
Inner and outer metropolitan service areas continue to provide a significant proportion (62%) of the
green organic collection services and mainly offer a fortnightly collection.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
43
Regular green organics kerbside services
Table 16 illustrates the costs and yields associated with a regular kerbside bin service. A regular bin
service is provided by council as a mandatory service and the cost is generally included as part of the
overall council waste charges.
Table 16 Green organics average costs and yields by collection system, Victoria 2012-13
Regular green organics service
Number of local
governments*
Cost per
tonne
Cost per
household
18
$140.31
$43.44
310
16
np
354
$142.98
$44.49
311
Fortnightly
Other (i.e. weekly and monthly)
2
Total
20
np
Household yield
(kg)
*Local governments that had more than one frequency of collection are listed here as separate services.
Regular fortnightly service bin collections are the most common amongst those local governments offing
this service accounting for 90% rather than a weekly or monthly bin service. .
Optional user-pays regular (fortnightly) green organic services
Table 17 compares the costs and yields associated with an optional user-pays kerbside bin service. An
optional user-pays regular (fortnightly / monthly) service is offered to residents as an additional service
where no regular green organics service is offered. All residents may have access to the optional service
but only some will elect to participate. An optional user-pays service incurs an additional annual fee to
the regular council waste charges.
Table 17 Green organics average costs and yields for optional user-pays services, Victoria 2012-13
Household yield
Cost per
(kg) per optional
Number of local
Cost per
optional user-
user-pays
Participation
governments*
tonne
pays service**
service**
rate*** (%)
Fortnightly (user pays)
24
$179.86
$58.27
324
50
Monthly (user pays)
1
np
np
206
16
*Local governments that had more than one frequency of collection are listed here as separate services.
**Refers to the number of households that took up the service offered rather than the number of households with access to the
service.
***Refers to the number of households that took up the service offered as a proportion of the total number of households with access
to the service.
There are 25 local governments with this system. Compared to regular fortnightly service, user-pay
fortnightly services cost 28% more per tonne, 34% more per household but deliver 14kg more per
household than regular fortnightly services.
16
Where there are less than 3 councils in any particular cell, data relating to cost is not published.
44
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Collection system
Table 18 illustrates the range and frequency of green organic collections.
The predominant collection system used by Victorian local governments in 2012-13 is the 240 L bin,
accounting for 40 or nearly 67% of all green organic services provided.
Table 18 Green organics collection systems, Victoria 2012-13
Primary bin
Metro
Non-metro
120 L
5
—
Total
5
240 L
23
17
40
Loose stack
1
—
1
Tied bundle
13
1
14
Total
42
18
60
On-call green organic services
Table 19 compares the costs and yields associated with regular ‘on-call’ services. An on-call service is
provided by councils as part of the general waste charges and allows households to have access to a
defined number of services per year.
Table 19 Green organics average costs and yields for on-call services, Victoria 2012-13
Household yield
On-call service
Number of local
Cost per
Cost per on-call
(kg) per on-call
Participation
governments*
tonne
service**
service**
rate*** (%)
$367.85
$41.43
113
8
15
*Local governments that had more than one frequency of collection are listed here as separate services.
**Refers to the number of households that took up the service offered, rather than the number of households with access to the
service.
***Refers to the number of households that took up the service offered as a proportion of the total number of households with access
to the service.
The number of on-call services provided per household can be as high as 12 (i.e. one per month) but is
more often limited to once or twice per year. In 2012-13, 69% of councils that offered an on-call service
allowed one to three services per year.
Currently, there are 15 local governments that offer an on-call green organics service. On-call
participation rates (i.e. the proportion of households that used the on-call service compared to the total
number of households that had access to the service) are generally low with 8% participation in
2012-13.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
45
Environmental benefits from kerbside recycling
This section looks at the environmental benefits gained from recycling during 2012-13.
Of the 599,119 tonnes of recyclables collected for recycling in Victoria, 563,819 tonnes (97%) was
recycled in 2012-13.
Applying this data to the findings of the Life Cycle Assessment of Kerbside Recyclables in Victoria17, the
benefits for the total amount recycled are estimated to include savings of:

6,466 megalitres of water a year – equivalent to filling 2,586 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or
13 showers for every Victorian per year

383,546 tonnes of greenhouse gases (such as CO 2) a year, or taking 100,933 cars off the
road18 for a year
P
P
PT

saving 4,710,974 gigajoules of energy – enough energy to power every household in Victoria to
watch TV for 603 days.
A life cycle assessment was also applied to the green organics processed through kerbside collection
services. Of the 368,951 tonnes collected, 357,590 tonnes were processed. The environmental benefits
of kerbside green organics processed were savings of:

2,038 megalitres of water a year – equivalent to filling 815 Olympic-sized swimming pools

82,246 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year – equivalent to taking 21,644 cars off the road for a
year.
17
Carre, A., Crossin, E., Clune, S. (2013), LCA of Kerbside Recycling in Victoria, Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne.
18ABS,
Cat. No. 9208.0, Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (released August 2011). Fuel Emission Factors were
obtained from the General Transport Full Fuel Cycle (Scope 1 + Scope 3) calculated from the Australian Government's
National Greenhouse Accounts Factors (July 2012).
46
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Litter and street sweeping services
This section looks at the operation of litter maintenance and street sweeping services. The figures
provide only a general indication of the services, as some local governments were unable to provide full
details of specific costs and tonnages for all their litter services.
In total, 68 local governments reported on litter bin maintenance services in 2012-13.
The total cost to local governments of providing a municipal litter service, street sweeping and litter
clean-up services was in excess of $94 million (see Tables 20, 21 and 22) annually or $16.43 for every
person in Victoria. Of this, Victorian local governments spent nearly $35 million (see Tables 20 and 21)
on the provision of litter services involving litter bins, traps and litter clean-up services (such as dumped
rubbish).
The largest proportion of expenditure was on street sweeping, accounting for 63% of the total, followed
by expenditure on litter bin maintenance with 20% (Figure 27).
Figure 27 Litter and street sweeping services annual service cost, Victoria 2012-13
Litter bins
20%
Litter traps
4%
Illegal dumped
rubbish
8%
Street sweeping
63%
Roadside litter
5%
Cigarette bins
<1%
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
47
Table 20 Litter services, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13
Metro
Non-metro
State total
2012-13
No. of litter bins
19,679
16,403
36,082
Annual service cost for litter bins
$11,264,241
$7,997,727
$19,261,968
Tonnes collected from litter bins
17,785
10,464
28,249
1,729
287
2,016
No. of side entry litter traps
No. of in-line litter traps
606
311
917
Annual service cost for litter traps
$2,213,559
$1,290,231
$3,503,790
Tonnes collected from litter traps
3,494
1,676
5,170
No. of public place recycling bins
1,984
490
2,474
2011-12
No. of litter bins
18,577
21,256
39,833
Annual service cost for litter bins
$8,982,745
$9,196,224
$18,178,969
Tonnes collected from litter bins
18,052
17,056
35,108
2,309
328
2,637
635
300
935
Annual service cost for litter traps
$1,835,682
$1,087,059
$2,922,741
Tonnes collected from litter traps
3,459
1,448
4,906
No. of public place recycling bins
2,734
1,518
2,238
-9.4
No. of side entry litter traps
No. of in-line litter traps
Per cent change
No. of litter bins
5.9
-22.8
Annual service cost for litter bins
25.4
-13.0
6.0
Tonnes collected from litter bins
-1.5
-38.7
-19.5
No. of side entry litter traps
-25.1
-12.5
-23.5
No. of in-line litter traps
-4.6
3.7
-1.9
Annual service cost for litter traps
20.6
18.7
19.9
Tonnes collected from litter traps
1.0
15.8
5.4
No. of public place recycling bins
-27.4
-67.7
10.5
Litter bins and traps
A total of 36,082 litter bins and 2016 traps (side entry and in-line litter traps) were in place in Victorian
local governments in 2012-13.
Yield
A total of 28,249 tonnes was collected through litter bins in 2012-13, representing a 19.5% decrease
from 2011-12 figures. Litter traps recovered 5,170 tonnes, an increase of 5.4% from the previous year.
Cost
The majority of costs associated with the operation of litter maintenance are for litter bins, which account
for more than $19 million or 85% of the total cost, while litter traps cost a little more than
$3.5 million.
Public place recycling
Sixty four local governments reported a total of 2,474 public place recycling bins, an increase of 10.5%
on the previous year.
48
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Litter clean-up services
Some local governments also provided further detail on their litter services (Table 21). Enhanced
reporting is more likely to explain variations year to year rather than increases in real terms.
The combined cost for cleaning up illegally dumped rubbish, roadside litter and cigarette bins amounted
to more than $12 million (Table 21).
Table 21 Litter clean-up services, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13
Illegally
dumped
rubbish
Road
side litter
Cigarette
bins
Total
2012-13
Annual service cost
$7,503,653
$4,254,977
$357,457
$12,116,087
Tonnes collected
20,869
10,810
n.a.
31,679
No. of call outs
38,934
n.a.
n.a.
38,934
1,630
n.a.
n.a.
1,630
No. of cigarette bins
n.a.
n.a.
2,492
2,492
Annual service cost
$6,273,513
$3,891,584
$328,959
$10,494,056
Tonnes collected
19,074
13,026
n.a.
32,100
No. of call outs
24,308
n.a.
n.a.
24,308
No. of penalties issued
805
n.a.
n.a.
805
No. of cigarette bins
n.a.
n.a.
2,211
2,211
19.6
9.3
8.7
15.5
No. of penalties issued
2011-12
Per cent change
Annual service cost
Tonnes collected
No. of call outs
No. of penalties issued
No. of cigarette bins
9.4
-17.0
n.a.
-1.3
60.2
n.a.
n.a.
60.2
102.5
n.a.
n.a.
102.5
n.a.
n.a.
12.7
12.7
Cleaning up illegally dumped rubbish costs local government more than $7.5 million across 48 local
governments, with a total of 20,869 tonnes collected from 38,934 call-outs.
The cost of cleaning up roadside litter was more than $4.2 million across 23 local governments reporting
10,810 tonnes collected, a decrease of 17.0% on the previous year.
The number of cigarette bin services increased by 12.7% from the previous period with 58 local
governments (three more than last year) reporting a total of 2,492 cigarette bins. Victorian local
governments had a combined operational cost of $357,457 ($143.44 per bin) for the maintenance of
cigarette bins, representing an decrease of 3.6% from 2011-12.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
49
Street sweeping
A total of 75 local governments (95%) were able to provide service cost figures for street sweeping.
In Victoria, street sweeping costs local government more than $59 million (Table 22), an increase of
1.8% from the previous year. This equates to $10.35 annually for every person in Victoria.
Table 22 Street sweeping annual service cost, Victoria 2012-13
Ref. year
Metro
2012-13
Non-metro
$46,720,968
State total
$12,655,218
$59,376,186
Metropolitan local governments incurred the greatest proportion of the cost, with 79% of the
total.
While street sweeping costs have almost doubled (94%) since 2001-02, the cost per person ($10.35)
has increased by 63% over the same period and has remained unchanged from 2011-12 levels (Figure
28).
Figure 28 Street sweeping*, cost per person trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
$12
$10
Cost per person
$9.94
$9.09
$8
$8.96
$9.23
$10.35 $10.35
$9.20
$8.43
$7.35
$6
$6.67
$6.25
$4
$2
$0
*No survey was conducted for the street sweeping component of the 2003-04 survey. Data has been estimated from existing
information for this period.
50
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 23 Street sweeping annual service cost by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Annual service
cost
No. of local
governments
Inner
Metropolitan
Outer
Metropolitan
Melbourne
Fringe
Major
Provincial
Small
Provincial
Rural
Township
State total
$28,075,875
$14,875,374
$4,206,400
$4,792,446
$5,153,338
$2,272,752
$59,376,186
10
16
6
6
24
13
75
Inner metropolitan local governments incurred the greater cost accounting for nearly half (47%) of the
total cost (Figure 29).
Figure 29 Street sweeping annual service cost by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Small Provincial
9%
Rural Township
4%
Major Provincial
8%
Melbourne Fringe
7%
Inner Metropolitan
47%
Outer Metropolitan
25%
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
51
Services to commerce and industry
The focus of this section is the range of kerbside collections provided by local governments to
commerce and industry.
Access
Table 24 shows the number of commercial and industrial (C&I) premises receiving kerbside services
from local government.
Table 24 Number of commercial and industrial premises serviced by domestic kerbside collections, by
service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Domestic
kerbside service
Inner
metropolitan
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
State
total
Garbage collection
45,854
27,200
4,189
8,040
14,071
5,468
104,822
Recyclables collection
43,388
16,966
3,398
5,541
15,343
4,676
89,312
Of those C&I properties serviced through the domestic kerbside system, 104,822 received a garbage
service and 89,312 received a kerbside recyclables collection service.
It should be noted that, wherever possible, local governments were requested to exclude C&I properties
from the domestic kerbside service. This occurred only if related costs and tonnes could be excluded.
Some local governments could not identify the number of C&I properties within the total properties
serviced and simply listed C&I properties under the number of domestic households serviced. Figure 30
details the coverage of where most C&I premises are serviced in Victoria.
Figure 30 Number of commercial and industrial premises serviced by kerbside collections, by service
provision area, Victoria 2012-13
40
Number ('000)
30
20
10
0
Inner
Metropolitan
Outer
Metropolitan
Melbourne
Fringe
Major
Provincial
Garbage
Small
Provincial
Rural
Township
Recyclables
Small provincial local government areas have a higher proportion of non-residential properties serviced
for recyclables relative to garbage compared to the other service provision areas.
Generally, only small commercial properties are serviced by domestic kerbside collections. This is
normally the case where small commercial properties have a domestic bin system in place, such as a
240L bin, rather than a larger commercial bin system which requires a different type of collection truck to
pick-up.
52
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Hard waste collections
This section of the report looks at hard waste kerbside collection services provided by Victorian local
governments. Hard waste is household waste not normally accepted in garbage bins, for example, white
goods, tyres etc.
Access
A total of 42 local governments provided a hard waste collection service in 2012-13 (Table 25). The total
households serviced refers to the number of households with access, regardless of how many
households participated or the number of on-call services made.
Table 25 Hard waste services by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Inner
metropolitan
Annual service cost
$5,494,035
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
State
total
2012-13
$3,189,21
$15,684,215
4
$12,539
$277,701
$36,729
$24,694,
433
Tonnes collected
16,763
67,281
10,867
148
997
744
96,799
Tonnes disposed
14,085
47,074
10,667
33
853
744
73,455
Diversion rate (%)
Total households
serviced*
16%
30%
2%
78%
85%
0%
491,749
976,706
186,736
14,834
60,389
10,733
24%
1,741,14
7
Cost per tonne
$327.75
$233.12
$293.48
$84.72
$278.61
$49.37
$255.11
$11.17
$16.06
$17.08
$0.85
$4.60
$3.42
$14.18
Household yield (kg)
34
69
58
10
17
69
56
No. of local governments
10
17
4
1
7
2
41
2011-12
$1,717,69
$14,191,859
3
$12,000
$280,088
$46,667
$21,442,
152
Cost per household
Annual service cost
$5,193,845
Tonnes collected
16,144
54,894
7,694
17
734
100
79,583
Tonnes disposed
13,450
48,030
7,497
4
541
100
69,622
Diversion rate (%)
Total households
serviced*
17%
13%
3%
77%
26%
0%
479,395
952,141
156,453
2,443
47,949
5,600
13%
1,643,98
1
Cost per tonne
$321.71
$258.53
$223.26
$720.72
$381.55
$466.67
$269.43
$10.83
$14.91
$10.98
$4.91
$5.84
$8.33
$13.04
Household yield (kg)
34
58
49
7
15
18
48
No. of local governments
10
17
3
1
7
2
40
Annual service cost
5.8
10.5
85.7
4.5
-0.9
-21.3
15.2
Tonnes collected
3.8
22.6
41.2
770.6
35.8
644.0
21.6
Tonnes disposed
4.7
-2.0
42.3
725.0
57.7
644.0
5.5
Diversion rate (%)
Total households
serviced*
-6.0
131.0
-38.7
0.9
-44.5
—
85.5
Cost per household
Per cent change
2.6
2.6
19.4
507.2
25.9
91.7
5.9
Cost per tonne
1.9
-9.8
31.5
-88.2
-27.0
-89.4
-5.3
Cost per household
3.2
7.7
55.5
-82.8
-21.3
-58.9
8.8
Household yield (kg)
0.3
18.8
18.8
42.5
10.0
285.1
15.8
No. of local governments
0.0
0.0
33.3
0.0
0.0
50.0
5.0
*Refers to households with access to a hard waste service.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
53
Cost
The total hard waste service cost to Victorian local governments was more than $24 million, an increase
of 15.2% from 2011-12. Outer metropolitan local governments accounted for the largest proportion of
that cost with 64%.
Yield
Of the 96,799 tonnes collected, 73,455 tonnes was disposed to landfill representing an average
diversion rate of 24%.
On average, 56kg of hard waste was collected per household during 2012-13 (Figure 31),
eight kilograms more per household than 2011-12.
Figure 31 Hard waste household yield across local governments, Victoria 2012-13
25
Number of local governments
Average household yield 56 kg
20
15
10
5
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
More
Household yield (kg)
Frequency
Of the 42 local governments providing a hard waste collection service, 16 (38%) provided an annual
service and 21 (50%) an on-call service (Table 26).
Table 26 Hard waste collection frequency by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13
Frequency of
service
Annual
Inner
metropolitan
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
State
total
4
4
1
—
5
2
16
4
Bi-annual
1
1
1
—
1
—
Monthly
—
—
—
—
1
—
1
On-call
5
12
2
1
—
1
21
Total
10
17
4
1
7
3
42
54
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Landfill and transfer station and resource recovery centre
operations
This section looks at the number of local government-owned or operated landfills (licensed and
unlicensed) and TSRRCs across the state, including those that are operated by private contractors for
local governments. The data does not include privately owned sites.
The number of local government-owned or operated landfills and TSRRCs is shown in Table 27.
Table 27 Number of local government-owned landfills and TSRRCs by service provision area, Victoria
2012-13
Inner
metropolitan
Outer
metropolitan
Melbourne
fringe
Major
provincial
Small
provincial
Rural
township
State
total
Operating landfills
No. of licensed landfills
0
7
1
6
19
6
39
No. of unlicensed landfills
0
1
0
1
25
19
46
0
8
1
7
44
25
85
Total landfills
Closed landfills
No. of licensed landfills
closed in 2012-13
0
0
0
0
3
1
4
No. of unlicensed landfills
closed in 2012-13
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
3
2
5
Total landfills closed
Transfer stations and resource recovery centres
No. of TSRRCs
6
15
18
19
138
81
277
No. of new TSRRCs
established in 2012-13
0
2
1
1
0
6
10
There has been a gradual decrease in the number of licensed and unlicensed landfills since
2001-02 and a corresponding increase in the number of TSRRCs established and / or upgraded across
the state (Figure 32).
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
55
Figure 32 Number of licensed / unlicensed landfills and TSRRCs, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13*
300
277
250
200
195
150
100
50
105
46
58
39
0
Licensed landfills
Unlicensed landfills
TSRRCs
*No survey was conducted for the landfill and TSRRC component of the 2003-04 survey. Data has been estimated from existing
information for this period.
Licensed landfills
Of the 85 operational landfills reported by local governments, 39 were licensed. Inner metropolitan local
governments did not operate or own any landfills. Most licensed landfills (19) were operating in small
provincial local governments during 2012-13, representing 49% of all licensed landfills in Victoria.
Unlicensed landfills
Of the 46 unlicensed landfills operating in Victoria during 2012-13, the majority (44 or 96%) were in rural
townships and small provincial local government areas.
Closed landfills
Of the five landfills closed during 2012-13, four were licensed landfills and one was unlicensed. All
landfills closures were in small provincial and rural township local government areas.
Transfer stations and resource recovery centres
Rural township and small provincial local governments maintained 219 (79%) of Victoria’s 277 TSRRCs,
reflecting the need in non-metropolitan communities for these sites to consolidate recyclables and
waste. Rural townships areas accounted for six of the 10 new TSRRCs established during 2012-13.
56
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Resource recovery from transfer stations and resource recovery
A total of 19,413 tonnes of packaging material (i.e. glass containers, steel containers, aluminium
containers, plastic containers, and paper and cardboard) were recovered from TSRRCs during 2012-13.
Paper comprised the greatest proportion of material recovered, representing 66.3% of the total.
Cardboard represented the largest component of the waste paper stream recovered, with 56.4% and
contributed the largest component of all items collected from TSRRCs with 37.4% of the total
recyclables collected (Figure 33).
Figure 33 Resource recovery by type of items recovered at TSRRCs, Victoria 2012-13
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
57
Resource recovery by collection type
Some of the main items recovered through municipal kerbside collections and TSRRCs are shown in
Table 28.
Table 28 Main items recovered by source of recovery, Victoria 2012-13
Source
Kerbside
Main items recovered
Plastic containers
TSRRCs
Total
% of total
Tonnes
52,086
1,390
53,476
4.7
Paper
348,414
12,875
362,289
31.8
Glass containers
175,094
3,015
178,109
15.6
15,999
938
16,937
1.5
Steel cans
Aluminium cans
6,526
1,196
7,722
0.7
Green organics
368,951
152,864
521,815
45.8
Total
968,070
172,278
1,140,348
100.0
Material collected through kerbside services represents almost 85% of all material recovered, with green
organics being the largest proportion with 38% of kerbside material collected.
Green organics was also the largest component of TSRRCs material collected, representing 89% of the
total.
By weight, paper, glass containers and green organics represented 93% of all material recovered from
kerbside and TSRRCs provided by local governments in Victoria.
58
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Broad trends over twelve years
The challenge to make better use of resources and reduce the amount of material landfilled has seen
kerbside services provided by local government change significantly since 2001-02. All 79 local
governments now provide a kerbside garbage and recyclables service. Ninety-seven per cent of
Victorian households have access to kerbside garbage collection services and 95% to a recyclables
collection service. Most local governments now use an efficient combination of bin systems to recover
waste material from kerbsides.

For recyclables, 77 (97%) local governments now use the best-practice 240L or 120L commingled
bin system instead of a crate and tied bundle collection system which was the predominant system
12 years ago.

96% (76) of all local governments now use a smaller more efficient garbage bin such as the 80L,
120L or 140L system compared to the traditional 240L bin system that dominated waste collections
over the past decade.

48 local governments now offer some form of green organics collection system to their residents
and of these 40 (83%) employ the larger 240L bin system. Six local governments also accepted
food waste commingled with their green organics collection in 2012-13.
Since 2001-02, the Victorian population has steadily increased by 18% from 4.8 million to 5.7 million
(Figure 34).
Figure 34 Population trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
7,000
Population ('000)
6,000
5,000
4,863
4,923 4,981
5,049
5,127
5,154 5,256
5,372
5,461
5,538
5,631
5,738
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Total waste generation (in tonnes) has steadily increased by nearly 31% over the same period. The
increase is not just due to the effects of population growth, but due primarily to the expansion of kerbside
services to more households and the introduction of the third bin system for green organics.
Although total waste generation has increased, the amount of garbage collected has decreased by 0.5%
rather than increase as would be expected from population growth.
Recyclables have increased by 67% and green organics have increased by 210% since 2001-02
(Figure 35), indicating that households are better educated and informed about recycling and waste
avoidance. Householders are separating material better and have the appropriate supporting
infrastructure to recover more materials for recycling.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
59
Figure 35 Tonnes collected for the three main kerbside services, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
1,200
Tonnes ('000)
1,000
1,108
1,102
800
599
600
400
359
369
200
119
0
Garbage
Recyclables
Green Organics
The per person rate also shows a similar trend where the amount of garbage generated by each person
in Victoria has decreased from a high of 228kg in 2001-02 to 192kg in 2012-13 representing a 16%
decrease. Although the population has grown by 18% over the same period, the per person garbage
generation has decreased inversely to population growth.
Recyclables show an increase from 74kg per person to 104kg over the same period (a 41% increase)
and green organics increased by more than160% from 24kg per person to 64kg (Figure 36).
Figure 36 Per person waste generation for the three main kerbside services,
Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
250
228
Yiled (kg per person)
200
192
150
104
100
74
64
50
24
-
Garbage
Recyclables
Green Organics
The efficiencies that are now being delivered through mature kerbside recycling systems in Victoria are
evident over the twelve year period of the survey. More recyclables and green organics are being
collected and less garbage is generated by every person in Victoria.
60
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Appendix A Methodology
Coverage
The target population of the survey was all 79 local governments. The survey was completed on
Sustainability Victoria’s website by the local governments.
The data collection is completely enumerated, that is, the data collection included all 79 Victorian local
governments, representing a 100% response rate. All local governments have a weighting of one, which
means that the numerical findings in this report are entirely derived from the data provided by the 79
participating local governments without any estimation for missing data.
Data collected
The data collection extended to the following service areas:

household garbage collection and disposal

household recyclables (i.e. containers and paper / cardboard) collection and sorting

household green organics collection and processing

litter bin and litter trap collection and disposal

litter clean-up services

street sweeping

hard waste collection services

commercial and industrial recyclables collection services

landfill and TSRRC operations
Diversion rate
The diversion rate is calculated by comparing the tonnes recycled to the tonnes collected, and includes
garbage, recyclables and green organics recovered from kerbside services only.
In 2006-07, drop-off material was reported for the first time in the survey. For comparative purposes, the
diversion rate which includes recyclables and green organics is the current official method used in this
publication to benchmark councils and WRRGs against the state average diversion rate. That is, the
state average rate of 45% is the official figure that should be quoted for 2012-13. Until councils improve
the collection and reporting of data for drop-off material collected through TSRRCs, the diversion rate
will always be expressed as a percentage in terms of tonnes of recyclables and green organics recycled
(processed) over garbage, recyclables and green organics collected from the kerbside system.
Presentation of data
The data has been provided in full to WRRGs and their respective member local governments for
verification and for their use in waste planning and reporting.
In this report, the data is presented in aggregated form. This reduces the impact of statistical anomalies
on the findings. The findings are therefore more representative of costs, yields and other features being
analysed.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
61
In various parts of the report, the data is grouped by:

service provision areas – formerly service provision categories established in the Guide to
Preferred Service Standards for Kerbside Recycling in Victoria (Sustainability Victoria, November
2000)

metropolitan / non-metropolitan classifications

waste management group

collection system type

collection frequency.
Please note, since the 2005-06 publication, the definition of metropolitan has changed slightly with the
exclusion of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. This is explained in more detail in Appendix B –
Glossary, under Waste and Resource Recovery Groups.
Please note
A thorough time series validation process was undertaken with local governments to update and amend
anomalies found in the datasets from previous years, especially in regards to the three main kerbside
services – garbage, recyclables and green organics. Where councils provided updates, these have been
incorporated into the report including revised population trend figures for Victoria.
Refer to Appendix E which details the revised time series data used in the production of this report.
The residential households serviced variable for the green organics component of the survey has also
been reviewed and amended. Some double counting of properties serviced was reported in previous
publications, this has now been rectified and as a consequence the number of properties serviced has
decreased considerably, refer to Appendix B – Glossary (Total households serviced).
The Service Provision Category for Latrobe City council has been changed from small provincial to
major provincial. All tables and charts in this publication, 2010-11, reflect the changes.
Survey limitations
Sustainability Victoria has sought to verify information provided in data collection returns through
rigorous follow-up with individual local governments to validate data entries. In addition, Sustainability
Victoria circulated extracts containing individual local government returns to Regional Waste & Resource
Recovery Group executive officers and regional education officers to verify data. Through these steps
and extensive data analysis, Sustainability Victoria has identified and corrected a significant number of
anomalies.
However, Sustainability Victoria is not in a position to validate underlying data in the report. Findings in
this report are therefore subject to the accuracy of data provided by individual local governments.
62
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Appendix B Glossary
Annual service cost
The service cost refers to the collection, sorting, processing and disposal costs of providing a waste
service, as well as the annualised depreciated bin costs. In-house contracts should allocate costs for
providing labour services and associated sorting and disposal fees, even if they are usually only
accounted for internally. Capital equipment used for providing the kerbside service, such as bins, trucks
and other specialised equipment should be depreciated as per normal accounting practices, with the
annual depreciation figure included as a cost. Lease or hire purchase costs should also be reported. All
capital expenditure costs associated with the construction and commissioning of infrastructure are
excluded. Only the annual operating expenses of providing a kerbside service are included.
Cigarette bins
Cigarette bins are systems mounted on walls or poles, dedicated to the disposal of cigarette butts. They
can be purchased or rented through (and sometimes even cleaned by) the manufacturer.
Diversion rate
The diversion rate is calculated by dividing the tonnes of recyclables and green organics recycled, by the
tonnes of recyclables, green organics and garbage collected from the kerbside system (i.e. excludes
TSRRCs).
In-line and side litter entry traps
Litter traps act as filters in stormwater drains to capture litter before it enters the waterways. They are
cleaned regularly, either manually or with a vacuum, to dispose of the litter to landfill. In-line litter entry
traps operate within the drainage system and act as a filter to capture litter flowing through the
stormwater drains. Side entry traps act at the drainage entrance to capture litter.
Items recovered for recycling
Most local governments provided a total quantity recovered, or at least the sub-totals for paper,
miscellaneous containers (glass, aluminium, steel) and plastic containers. Few local governments are
able to report down to a level of detail that would include, for example, clear glass versus brown glass.
On-call services
Many local governments provide an on-call service for green organics collection. The most common
number of free services allowed per household is once or twice per year.
Plastic coding system
The plastic coding system is a series of symbols that identify the most common plastic material used in
the manufacture of a product or packaging. The symbols are usually embossed on the bottom of plastic
containers and bottles. Their purpose is to assist collectors with sorting the collected plastics by material
type. They do not indicate that the product can be recycled or that it’s made from recycled content. Each
symbol in the plastics coding system consists of a number from 1 to 7 inside a chasing arrows triangle.
Predominant bin type
This refers to the bin type used by most residential properties within the municipality for garbage and
recyclables. For instance, if a local government has a 120L bin for 30% of the municipality and a 240L
bin for 70% of the municipality, then the predominant bin type is the 240L bin.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
63
Predominant frequency of service
This refers to the most common frequency of service within the municipality. The defining criterion is the
number of households serviced. For example, if a local government has a fortnightly service for 1,000
households and an annual service for 10,000 households, the predominant frequency of service is an
annual service as more households receive this service.
Recyclables collection systems
For this publication, the following definitions of bin types have been used:

two-crate system – refers to a crate for the collection of commingled containers and a crate for
the collection of paper, or one crate that is used to collect containers and paper mixed together

crate and tied bundle – refers to a crate for the collection of containers and a tied bundle of paper
for collection

commingled bin – refers to one collection system used to accept containers and paper mixed
together

split bin – refers to the collection of containers and paper in a single bin with a partition down the
middle to separate the recycled material

split garbage and recyclables – refers to the collection of recyclables (commingled containers
and paper) together with garbage in one collection system that is partitioned down the middle to
accept the two different waste streams
Waste & Resource Recovery Groups
The former Regional Waste Management Groups (RWMGs) were established under the
Environment Protection (Amendment) Act 1996 and 2006. Under these directives the former
RWMGs were responsible for planning the management of municipal solid waste in Victoria.
In 2014 a program of reforms was implemented which resulted in the 13 RWMGs being consolidated
into seven Waste and Resource Recovery Groups (WRRGs). The WRRGs are Victorian State
Government statutory authorities established on 1 August 2014 by s49C(1) of the Environment
Protection Act 1970.
The seven WRRGs, which cover all 79 Victorian local governments, are divided into metropolitan and
non-metropolitan areas. They vary in the number of local governments they include, ranging from 6 local
government to 31 local governments. Each WRRG is responsible for coordinating the planning of waste
management activities for its member local governments.
64
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 29 Transition of Regional Waste Management Groups to Waste & Resource Recovery Groups
New Waste & Resource
Recovery Group (WRRG)
Former Waste Management
Group (RWMG)
Barwon South West WRRG
South West RWMG
Barwon RWMG
Gippsland WRRG
Gippsland RWMG
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Goulburn Valley RWMG
Grampians Central West WRRG
Desert Fringe RWMG
Grampians RWMG
Highlands RWMG
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Mildura RWMG
Central Murray RWMG
Calder RWMG
North East WRRG
North East RWMG
Metropolitan WRRG
Metropolitan RWMG
Mornington Peninsula RWMG
Prior to the 2005-06 publication, there were 16 waste management groups (WMGs). Within the
metropolitan defined boundaries there were 30 local governments, and the remainder (49) in nonmetropolitan areas of Victoria. On 1 October 2006, the Metropolitan Waste Management Group
(MWMG) came into effect through the amalgamation of the four former metropolitan WMGs, namely
Northern, Eastern, South-Eastern and Western WMGs. At this time there was the MWMG and 12 nonmetropolitan RWMGs (see Table 29). The 2014 legislative changes saw the MWMG become the
Metropolitan WRRG which now represents 31 metropolitan local including Mornington Peninsula Shire
Council.
Time series data in Appendix E has been amended to reflect these changes.
Resource recovery
Resource recovery is where items are collected for recycling to avoid waste going to landfill. Items
recovered range from those collected through kerbside recycling (e.g. glass bottles) to scrap steel, tyres
and motor oil.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
65
Service provision areas
Six kerbside recycling service provision areas established in the Guide to Preferred Service Standards
for Kerbside Recycling in Victoria. In these Standards the service provision areas are known as service
provision categories. These have been applied in this report to the range of waste management services
provided by local government. Each local government area has been coded to a service provision area
(category) - (see Appendix C) according to the following guidelines:
66

Inner metropolitan: Covering the more densely populated inner area of Melbourne.
Characterised by high levels of multi-tenanted dwellings, narrower streets making accessibility
for collection purposes difficult, and generally short distances to a landfill / transfer station, sorting
facilities and end-markets for recyclables. For example, Yarra and Port Phillip city councils.

Outer metropolitan: A geographically more dispersed part of Melbourne, which is generally
based on average population density, average block sizes and generally short distances to a
landfill / transfer station, sorting facilities and end-markets for recyclables. For example,
Whitehorse, Monash and Hume city councils.

Melbourne fringe: Areas on the outskirts of Melbourne, often with a blend of urban and rural
areas. Likely to have slightly larger block size and moderate collection transport costs and freight
costs to a landfill / transfer station, sorting facilities and end-markets for recyclables. Includes
metropolitan and non-metropolitan local governments. For example, Nillumbik, Cardinia and
Macedon Ranges shire councils.

Major provincial centres: Characterised by significant population totals and average population
density. Likelihood of regional sorting facility within the city and reasonable transport route to
Melbourne or other market destinations. Relatively short distances to a landfill / transfer station
for waste disposal. For example, Wodonga, Greater Bendigo and Ballarat city councils.

Small provincial centres: Population centres of moderate size and density with some surrounding
semi-rural properties. Reasonable likelihood of transportation to a major centre for sorting and
additional transportation of recyclables to reprocessing markets. Moderate distances to a landfill /
transfer station for waste disposal. For example, Ararat Rural City Council, and Baw Baw and
Campaspe Shire Councils.

Rural townships / remote: Small population centres with significant distances to sorting and
reprocessing facilities. Rural areas with sparse populations and lower level road infrastructure,
and greater distances to a landfill / transfer station for waste disposal. For example, Buloke,
Corangamite and Moira shire councils.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Tonnes collected
Conversion factors have been used to convert quantities reported in cubic metres to tonnes. No
compaction factors have been taken into account unless otherwise stated on the survey forms.
The conversion factors as used by Sustainability Victoria are:
1 cubic metre is equivalent to:
Material
Density
Paper / cardboard
0.10 tonne
Household garbage / garden / vegetation
0.15 tonne
Wood / timber
0.30 tonne
Glass
0.347 tonne
Plastics
0.013 tonne
Steel cans
0.052 tonne
Aluminium cans
0.026 tonne
Commingled recyclables, i.e. plastic / glass / steel / aluminium
0.063 tonne
Total households serviced
Refers to both residential households and non-residential (commercial and industrial) premises serviced.
Many local governments cannot provide a split of the number of commercial and industrial premises
serviced or do not have a separate charge for this service. For practical reasons, the derived figures
calculated in this publication which rely on the total households serviced, such as ‘cost per household’,
refer to the total residential and non-residential premises serviced through the regular domestic kerbside
service.
The residential households serviced variable for green organics collected from kerbside services has
been reviewed and amended. Some double counting of properties serviced was reported in previous
publications. This has now been rectified and as a consequence the number of properties serviced has
decreased considerably. Some councils offer a number of different services to residents for green
organics which has complicated the derivation of the number of households serviced. For instance, a
user-pays service together with an on-call service may be offered to all residents but only a proportion
take up the offer of the optional service. This confusion between the numbers of households with access
versus the number serviced has contributed to double counting in some instances in the past.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
67
Appendix C Victorian local governments
Table 30 lists all local governments by alphabetical order, region, service provision category, and
metropolitan / non-metropolitan classification.
Table 30 Victorian local governments
Waste & Resource Recovery
Metro / Non-metro
Local government
Group
Service provision area
classification
Alpine Shire Council
North East WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Ararat Rural City Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Ballarat City Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Banyule City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Bass Coast Shire Council
Gippsland WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Baw Baw Shire Council
Gippsland WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Bayside City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Benalla Rural City Council
North East WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Boroondara City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Brimbank City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Buloke Shire Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Campaspe Shire Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Cardinia Shire Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Metro
Casey City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Central Goldfields Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Colac Otway Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Corangamite Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Darebin City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
East Gippsland Shire Council
Gippsland WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Frankston City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Gannawarra Shire Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Glen Eira City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Glenelg Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Golden Plains Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Greater Bendigo City Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Greater Dandenong City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Greater Geelong City Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Greater Shepparton City Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Hepburn Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Hindmarsh Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Hobsons Bay City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Table 30 continued
68
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Waste & Resource Recovery
Metro / Non-metro
Local government
Group
Service provision area
classification
Horsham Rural City Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Hume City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Indigo Shire Council
North East WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Kingston City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Knox City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Latrobe City Council
Gippsland WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Loddon Shire Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Macedon Ranges Shire Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Non-Metro
Manningham City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Mansfield Shire Council
North East WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Maribyrnong City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Maroondah City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Melbourne City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Melton Shire Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Mildura Rural City Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Mitchell Shire Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Moira Shire Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Monash City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Moonee Valley City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Moorabool Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Non-Metro
Moreland City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Metro
Mount Alexander Shire Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Moyne Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Murrindindi Shire Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Nillumbik Shire Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Metro
Northern Grampians Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Port Phillip City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Pyrenees Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Queenscliffe Borough Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
South Gippsland Shire Council
Gippsland WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
69
Table 30 continued
Waste & Resource Recovery
Metro / Non-metro
Local government
Group
Service provision area
classification
Southern Grampians Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Stonnington City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Strathbogie Shire Council
Goulburn Valley WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Surf Coast Shire Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Swan Hill Rural City Council
Loddon Mallee WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Towong Shire Council
North East WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Wangaratta Rural City Council
North East WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Warrnambool City Council
Barwon South Western WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
Wellington Shire Council
Gippsland WRRG
Small Provincial
Non-Metro
West Wimmera Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Whitehorse City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Whittlesea City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Wodonga City Council
North East WRRG
Major Provincial
Non-Metro
Wyndham City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Outer Metropolitan
Metro
Yarra City Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Inner Metropolitan
Metro
Yarra Ranges Shire Council
Metropolitan WRRG
Melbourne Fringe
Metro
Yarriambiack Shire Council
Grampians Central West WRRG
Rural Township
Non-Metro
Table 31 Victorian local government by service provision area
and metro and non-metro classification
Service Provision
Classification
Metro
Non-Metro
State total
Inner Metropolitan
10
—
10
Outer Metropolitan
17
—
17
Melbourne Fringe
4
2
6
Major Provincial
—
6
6
Small Provincial
—
24
24
Rural Township
—
16
16
Total
31
48
79
70
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Appendix D Waste generation and diversion rate from
kerbside collection services
All local governments are ranked by diversion rate 1 (Table 32). Please note that Diversion rate 1 is the
official measure used to track progress of local governments. Diversion rate 2 allows comparison with
local governments without green organics and Diversion rate 3 allows comparisons with local
governments that provide TSRRCs for parts of their municipality, rather than a regular kerbside
recyclables service as is the case in some non-metrpolitan municipalities.
Table 32 Diversion rate by local governments, Victoria 2012-13
Rank
Local government
Diversion
Diversion
Diversion
rate 1* (%)
rate 2* (%)
rate 3* (%)
1
East Gippsland Shire Council
65%
47%
68%
2
Moyne Shire Council
58%
38%
71%
3
Greater Geelong City Council
57%
40%
57%
4
Manningham City Council
57%
37%
60%
5
Corangamite Shire Council
57%
37%
65%
6
Surf Coast Shire Council
56%
44%
60%
7
Monash City Council
54%
35%
56%
8
Maroondah City Council
54%
34%
54%
9
Knox City Council
54%
35%
55%
10
Casey City Council
53%
35%
53%
11
Bayside City Council
53%
39%
56%
12
Banyule City Council
52%
38%
52%
13
Boroondara City Council
52%
36%
53%
14
Latrobe City Council
51%
33%
58%
15
Frankston City Council
51%
36%
51%
16
Colac Otway Shire Council
51%
31%
53%
17
Darebin City Council
49%
36%
50%
18
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
49%
44%
62%
19
Kingston City Council
49%
33%
49%
20
Hobsons Bay City Council
48%
36%
48%
21
Baw Baw Shire Council
48%
32%
52%
22
Macedon Ranges Shire Council
47%
34%
61%
23
Greater Shepparton City Council
47%
33%
52%
24
Cardinia Shire Council
46%
35%
46%
25
Moonee Valley City Council
46%
34%
49%
26
Whitehorse City Council
46%
35%
56%
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
71
Table 32 continued
Rank
Local government
Diversion
Diversion
Diversion
rate 1* (%)
rate 2* (%)
rate 3* (%)
27
Glen Eira City Council
45%
34%
45%
28
Greater Dandenong City Council
44%
28%
44%
29
Yarra Ranges Shire Council
44%
34%
44%
30
Wodonga City Council
43%
29%
55%
31
Stonnington City Council
42%
34%
43%
32
Murrindindi Shire Council
41%
41%
50%
33
Indigo Shire Council
41%
35%
47%
34
Melton Shire Council
41%
31%
54%
35
Whittlesea City Council
40%
28%
43%
36
Warrnambool City Council
39%
39%
39%
37
Moreland City Council
39%
29%
39%
38
Southern Grampians Shire Council
39%
39%
59%
39
Campaspe Shire Council
38%
32%
38%
40
Buloke Shire Council
38%
38%
52%
41
Wyndham City Council
38%
31%
45%
42
Wellington Shire Council
38%
38%
52%
43
Moira Shire Council
37%
37%
60%
44
Alpine Shire Council
37%
37%
49%
45
Central Goldfields Shire Council
37%
34%
50%
46
Mitchell Shire Council
36%
36%
51%
47
Yarra City Council
36%
35%
37%
48
Brimbank City Council
35%
24%
35%
49
Mildura Rural City Council
35%
35%
53%
50
Nillumbik Shire Council
35%
55%
38%
51
Benalla Rural City Council
34%
34%
45%
52
Moorabool Shire Council
34%
34%
43%
53
Gannawarra Shire Council
34%
34%
47%
54
Hume City Council
33%
26%
45%
55
Strathbogie Shire Council
33%
33%
52%
56
Ararat Rural City Council
33%
33%
58%
57
Maribyrnong City Council
32%
28%
32%
58
Port Phillip City Council
32%
32%
33%
59
South Gippsland Shire Council
31%
31%
65%
72
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 32 continued
Rank
Local government
Diversion
Diversion
Diversion rate
rate 1* (%)
rate 2* (%)
3* (%)
60
Towong Shire Council
31%
31%
31%
61
Mount Alexander Shire Council
31%
31%
55%
62
Queenscliffe Borough Council
31%
27%
31%
63
Wangaratta Rural City Council
30%
30%
30%
64
Ballarat City Council
29%
27%
35%
65
Mansfield Shire Council
29%
29%
29%
66
Hindmarsh Shire Council
27%
27%
42%
67
Swan Hill Rural City Council
27%
24%
33%
68
Northern Grampians Shire Council
26%
26%
35%
69
Greater Bendigo City Council
26%
26%
33%
70
Golden Plains Shire Council
26%
26%
26%
71
Glenelg Shire Council
24%
24%
37%
72
Bass Coast Shire Council
23%
23%
46%
73
Hepburn Shire Council
23%
23%
42%
74
Loddon Shire Council
23%
23%
31%
75
Yarriambiack Shire Council
22%
22%
42%
76
Pyrenees Shire Council
22%
19%
28%
77
Melbourne City Council
20%
20%
20%
78
Horsham Rural City Council
16%
16%
39%
79
West Wimmera Shire Council
14%
14%
13%
State average
45%
33%
49%
*Diversion rate 1 refers to tonnes of recyclables and green organics collected (less contamination) divided by tonnes of garbage,
recyclables and green organics collected;
Diversion rate 2 equals tonnes of recyclables collected (less contamination) divided by tonnes of garbage and recyclables collected;
Diversion rate 3 equals tonnes of recyclables, green organics and drop-off material (recyclables and green organics) collected (less
contamination), divided by tonnes of garbage, recyclables, green organics and drop-off material (recyclables and green organics)
collected.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
73
Table 33 lists the annual household yield (kg) of recyclables collected through kerbside services by all
local governments in alphabetical order.
Table 33 Recyclables household yield (kg) by local government, Victoria 2012-13
Local government
Predominant recycling bin system
Alpine Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
265
Ararat Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
301
Ballarat City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
240
Banyule City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
288
Bass Coast Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
170
Baw Baw Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
242
Bayside City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
294
Benalla Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
289
Boroondara City Council
120L commingled Weekly
320
Brimbank City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
245
Buloke Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
290
Campaspe Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
254
Cardinia Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
287
Casey City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
300
Central Goldfields Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
228
Colac Otway Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
191
Corangamite Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
273
Darebin City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
265
East Gippsland Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
301
Frankston City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
294
Gannawarra Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
289
Glen Eira City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
242
Glenelg Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
206
Golden Plains Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
238
Greater Bendigo City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
230
Greater Dandenong City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
230
Greater Geelong City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
285
Greater Shepparton City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
256
Hepburn Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
183
Hindmarsh Shire Council
240L (containers) Fortnightly & Tied Bundle
(paper) monthly
228
Hobsons Bay City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
258
74
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Household yield (kg)
Table 33 continued
Local government
Predominant recycling bin system
Household yield (kg)
Horsham Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
185
Hume City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
272
Indigo Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
219
Kingston City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
253
Knox City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
281
Latrobe City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
264
Loddon Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
153
Macedon Ranges Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
278
Manningham City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
303
Mansfield Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
202
Maribyrnong City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
222
Maroondah City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
274
Melbourne City Council
120L commingled Weekly
86
Melton Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
261
Mildura Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
234
Mitchell Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
267
Moira Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
229
Monash City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
247
Moonee Valley City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
314
Moorabool Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
267
Moreland City Council
120L commingled Weekly
249
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
286
Mount Alexander Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
197
Moyne Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
259
Murrindindi Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
265
Nillumbik Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
356
Northern Grampians Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
218
Port Phillip City Council
240L commingled Weekly
356
Pyrenees Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
201
Queenscliffe Borough Council
120L commingled Weekly
175
South Gippsland Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
221
Southern Grampians Shire Council
120L commingled Weekly
227
Stonnington City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
192
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
75
Table 33 continued
Local government
Predominant recycling bin system
Strathbogie Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
244
Surf Coast Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
270
Swan Hill Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
216
Towong Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
233
Wangaratta Rural City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
266
Warrnambool City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
269
Wellington Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
260
West Wimmera Shire Council
Crate (containers) Weekly &
Tied Bundle (paper) monthly
115
Whitehorse City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
274
Whittlesea City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
273
Wodonga City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
242
Wyndham City Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
254
Yarra City Council
120L commingled Weekly
224
Yarra Ranges Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
294
Yarriambiack Shire Council
240L commingled Fortnightly
210
State average
n.a.
259
76
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Household yield (kg)
Table 34 lists the annual household yield (kg) for garbage of all local governments in alphabetical order.
Table 34 Garbage household yield (kg) by local government, Victoria 2012-13
Local government
Predominant garbage bin system
Household yield (kg)
Alpine Shire Council
80L weekly
427
Ararat Rural City Council
120L weekly
370
Ballarat City Council
140L weekly
509
Banyule City Council
80L weekly
420
Bass Coast Shire Council
120L weekly
302
Baw Baw Shire Council
120L weekly
441
Bayside City Council
140L weekly
475
Benalla Rural City Council
140L weekly
454
Boroondara City Council
120L weekly
560
Brimbank City Council
140L weekly
600
Buloke Shire Council
120L weekly
457
Campaspe Shire Council
140L weekly
538
Cardinia Shire Council
120L weekly
506
Casey City Council
120L weekly
491
Central Goldfields Shire Council
80L weekly
403
Colac Otway Shire Council
120L weekly
357
Corangamite Shire Council
120L weekly
364
Darebin City Council
80L weekly
440
East Gippsland Shire Council
120L weekly
225
Frankston City Council
120L weekly
450
Gannawarra Shire Council
120L weekly
482
Glen Eira City Council
120L weekly
464
Glenelg Shire Council
120L weekly
350
Golden Plains Shire Council
240Lweekly
640
Greater Bendigo City Council
140L weekly
561
Greater Dandenong City Council
140L weekly
596
Greater Geelong City Council
120L weekly
437
Greater Shepparton City Council
80L weekly
518
Hepburn Shire Council
120L weekly
553
Hindmarsh Shire Council
120L fortnightly
506
Hobsons Bay City Council
120L weekly
467
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
77
Table 34 continued
Local government
Predominant garbage bin system
Household yield (kg)
Horsham Rural City Council
240L weekly
659
Hume City Council
140L weekly
628
Indigo Shire Council
140L weekly
430
Kingston City Council
120L weekly
459
Knox City Council
120L weekly
489
Latrobe City Council
120L weekly
417
Loddon Shire Council
140L weekly
522
Macedon Ranges Shire Council
140L weekly
494
Manningham City Council
120L weekly
480
Mansfield Shire Council
140L weekly
426
Maribyrnong City Council
120L weekly
565
Maroondah City Council
120L weekly
448
Melbourne City Council
120L weekly
267
Melton Shire Council
120L weekly
515
Mildura Rural City Council
120L weekly
415
Mitchell Shire Council
120L weekly
468
Moira Shire Council
120L weekly
385
Monash City Council
120L weekly
416
Moonee Valley City Council
120L weekly
484
Moorabool Shire Council
120L weekly
442
Moreland City Council
80L weekly
479
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
80L weekly
370
Mount Alexander Shire Council
140L weekly
402
Moyne Shire Council
120L weekly
339
Murrindindi Shire Council
120L weekly
363
120L fortnightly
294
Northern Grampians Shire Council
120L weekly
518
Port Phillip City Council
240L weekly
555
Pyrenees Shire Council
120L weekly
726
Queenscliffe Borough Council
120L weekly
480
South Gippsland Shire Council
120L weekly
435
Southern Grampians Shire Council
120L weekly
360
Stonnington City Council
120L weekly
366
Nillumbik Shire Council
78
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 34 continued
Local government
Predominant garbage bin system
Household yield (kg)
Strathbogie Shire Council
120L weekly
449
Surf Coast Shire Council
120L weekly
347
Swan Hill Rural City Council
120L weekly
456
Towong Shire Council
140L weekly
485
Wangaratta Rural City Council
140L weekly
614
Warrnambool City Council
80L weekly
413
Wellington Shire Council
120L weekly
363
West Wimmera Shire Council
120L weekly
572
Whitehorse City Council
120L weekly
448
Whittlesea City Council
120L weekly
537
Wodonga City Council
140L weekly
502
Wyndham City Council
140L weekly
559
Yarra City Council
80L weekly
359
Yarra Ranges Shire Council
120L weekly
494
Yarriambiack Shire Council
120L weekly
570
n.a.
467
State average
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
79
Appendix E Time series data kerbside services
Table 35 Garbage kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Garbage
kerbside
service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Reference
year
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
collected
2001-2002
804,341
303,552
1,107,893
2002-2003
769,824
287,219
1,057,043
2003-2004
770,922
291,266
1,062,188
2004-2005
755,427
268,277
1,023,705
2005-2006
743,882
279,361
1,023,244
2006-2007
735,430
264,249
999,679
2007-2008
752,094
260,943
1,013,037
2008-2009
759,062
265,600
1,024,661
2009-2010
782,123
274,394
1,056,517
2010-2011
805,595
283,564
1,089,158
2011-2012
820,147
291,162
1,111,309
2012-2013
813,316
288,834
1,102,150
Table 36 Recyclables kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Recyclables
kerbside
service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Reference
year
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
2001-2002
280,532
262,941
78,532
72,519
359,063
335,459
2002-2003
312,976
295,291
84,073
75,037
397,050
370,327
2003-2004
331,165
304,917
100,284
89,001
431,449
393,918
2004-2005
376,132
339,659
120,290
105,418
496,422
445,077
2005-2006
407,560
362,532
128,946
112,451
536,505
474,983
2006-2007
424,210
383,734
137,041
121,459
561,251
505,193
2007-2008
459,602
414,718
144,882
127,445
604,485
542,163
2008-2009
454,556
417,916
153,583
136,791
608,139
554,707
2009-2010
455,984
426,010
157,156
141,299
613,141
567,310
2010-2011
461,813
424,180
160,409
146,575
622,223
570,755
2011-2012
459,457
429,602
159,201
145,444
618,658
575,045
2012-2013
442,099
417,731
157,020
146,087
599,119
563,819
80
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 37 Green organics kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Green
organics
kerbside
service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Reference
year
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
processed
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
processed
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
processed
2001-2002
112,232
111,790
6,705
4,485
118,937
116,275
2002-2003
124,666
124,468
16,818
13,327
141,484
137,795
2003-2004
144,835
136,062
34,223
32,592
179,058
168,654
2004-2005
194,499
182,020
44,004
43,840
238,503
225,860
2005-2006
212,838
208,455
45,643
45,203
258,481
253,658
2006-2007
204,947
204,629
42,620
38,493
247,566
243,122
2007-2008
202,148
201,256
54,070
52,462
256,218
253,718
2008-2009
216,677
207,068
49,917
48,667
266,594
255,735
2009-2010
252,317
244,064
62,608
60,872
314,925
304,936
2010-2011
321,878
307,506
68,512
66,889
390,390
374,396
2011-2012
325,483
315,780
71,742
69,654
397,224
385,434
2012-2013
300,095
289,203
68,856
68,398
368,951
357,601
Table 38 Total waste generation kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Total waste
generation
kerbside
service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Reference
year
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
recycled
2001-2002
1,197,104
374,731
388,789
77,004
1,585,894
451,735
2002-2003
1,207,466
419,759
388,110
88,364
1,595,576
508,123
2003-2004
1,246,922
440,980
425,773
121,593
1,672,695
562,573
2004-2005
1,326,058
521,680
432,572
149,258
1,758,630
670,938
2005-2006
1,364,280
570,987
453,950
157,653
1,818,230
728,640
2006-2007
1,364,587
588,363
443,910
159,952
1,808,496
748,315
2007-2008
1,413,844
615,974
459,895
179,907
1,873,740
795,881
2008-2009
1,430,295
624,985
469,100
185,458
1,899,394
810,442
2009-2010
1,490,425
670,075
494,158
202,171
1,984,583
872,246
2010-2011
1,589,286
731,686
512,485
213,465
2,101,771
945,151
2011-2012
1,605,086
745,382
522,105
215,098
2,127,191
960,479
2012-2013
1,555,510
706,935
514,710
214,485
2,070,220
921,420
Note: Total waste generation refers to the sum of garbage, recyclables and green organics from kerbside services.
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
81
Table 39 Diversion rate trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Diversion rate
kerbside service
Metro
Non-metro
State
Reference
year
(%)
(%)
(%)
2001-2002
31
20
29
2002-2003
35
23
32
2003-2004
35
29
34
2004-2005
39
35
38
2005-2006
42
35
40
2006-2007
43
36
41
2007-2008
44
39
42
2008-2009
44
40
43
2009-2010
45
41
44
2010-2011
46
42
45
2011-2012
46
41
45
2012-2013
45
42
45
Note: Diversion rate includes garbage, recyclables and green organics from kerbside services.
Table 40 Hard waste kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Hard waste
kerbside
service
Metro
Non-metro
State total
Reference
year
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
disposed
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
disposed
Tonnes
collected
Tonnes
disposed
2001-2002
47,729
37,384
5,579
3,766
53,308
41,150
2002-2003
48,889
41,775
5,627
3,349
54,515
45,124
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
2004-2005
72,566
59,135
8,783
7,628
81,349
66,763
2005-2006
62,374
53,672
8,980
7,779
71,354
61,450
2006-2007
61,419
54,054
1,482
970
62,901
55,024
2007-2008
59,420
51,779
1,256
749
60,676
52,527
2008-2009
65,424
57,511
902
398
66,327
57,909
2009-2010
70,234
61,819
919
608
71,153
62,428
2010-2011
77,786
71,020
698
513
78,484
71,534
2011-2012
78,732
69,088
851
645
79,583
69,733
2012-2013
94,911
71,825
1,889
1,630
96,799
73,455
2003-2004*
* Hard waste services provided by local governments were not surveyed during 2003-2004.
82
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
Table 41 Annual service cost trend by kerbside service, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Reference
year
Garbage
Recyclables
Green organics
Total waste
generation
2001-2002
$97,744,475
$51,964,538
$14,174,205
$163,883,218
2002-2003
$99,937,420
$56,181,283
$17,822,760
$173,941,463
2003-2004
$111,874,431
$61,959,286
$22,732,395
$196,566,112
2004-2005
$115,645,898
$65,244,159
$26,620,796
$207,510,853
2005-2006
$125,250,427
$67,978,289
$31,359,831
$224,588,547
2006-2007
$127,509,538
$70,458,839
$34,337,867
$232,306,244
2007-2008
$133,854,281
$71,667,793
$36,153,112
$241,675,186
2008-2009
$145,183,995
$73,705,242
$41,688,794
$260,578,031
2009-2010
$156,088,537
$73,514,513
$44,099,559
$273,702,609
2010-2011
$191,179,670
$71,201,460
$53,867,644
$316,248,774
2011-2012
$204,739,774
$68,541,922
$58,128,652
$331,410,348
2012-2013
$229,583,480
$65,646,738
$60,648,200
$355,878,418
Table 42 Cost per person trend by kerbside service, 2001-02 to 2012-13
Reference
year
Garbage
Recyclables
Green
organics
Total waste
generation
2001-2002
$20.10
$10.69
$2.91
$33.70
2002-2003
$20.30
$11.41
$3.62
$35.33
2003-2004
$22.46
$12.44
$4.56
$39.46
2004-2005
$22.91
$12.92
$5.27
$41.10
2005-2006
$24.43
$13.26
$6.12
$43.81
2006-2007
$24.74
$13.67
$6.66
$45.08
2007-2008
$25.47
$13.63
$6.88
$45.98
2008-2009
$27.03
$13.72
$7.76
$48.51
2009-2010
$28.38
$13.46
$8.08
$49.91
2010-2011
$32.90
$12.84
$9.73
$55.47
2011-2012
$36.75
$12.16
$10.46
$59.36
2012-2013
$40.01
$11.44
$10.57
$62.03
Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
83
Appendix F Population and CPI trend figures
Table 43 Population trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
% change
from
previous year
% change
from base
year 2001-02
Reference
year
Population
2001-2002
4,863,084
—
—
2002-2003
4,923,485
1.2%
1.2%
2003-2004
4,981,467
1.2%
2.4%
2004-2005
5,048,602
1.3%
3.8%
2005-2006
5,126,540
1.5%
5.4%
2006-2007
5,153,522
0.5%
6.0%
2007-2008
5,256,375
2.0%
8.1%
2008-2009
5,371,934
2.2%
10.5%
2009-2010
5,461,101
1.7%
12.3%
2010-2011
5,537,817
1.4%
13.9%
2011-2012
5,630,855
1.7%
15.8%
2012-2013
5,737,615
1.9%
18.0%
Source: ABS Catalogue number 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics, Jun Qtr. 2013, published 17 December
2013. Table 4, Estimated Residential Population, Persons, Victoria
Table 44 CPI trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13
Reference
year
CPI, All
groups,
Melbourne
% change
from previous
year
% change
from base
year 2001-02
2001-2002
76.5
2.8%
0.0%
2002-2003
78.9
3.3%
3.1%
2003-2004
80.7
2.2%
5.5%
2004-2005
82.3
2.0%
7.6%
2005-2006
84.9
3.1%
11.0%
2006-2007
87.1
2.7%
13.9%
2007-2008
90.2
3.5%
17.9%
2008-2009
92.7
2.8%
21.2%
2009-2010
94.8
2.1%
23.9%
2010-2011
97.6
3.3%
27.6%
2011-2012
100.0
2.3%
30.7%
2012-2013
102.2
2.2%
33.6%
Source: ABS Catalogue Number 6401.0 Consumer Price Index Australia, Table 5. CPI: Groups, Index Numbers by
Capital City, March Qtr. 2014 – the CPI index was rebased in 2011-12.
84
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Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013
85