Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-13

Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-13 ISSN 1836-991X

Contact Details Sustainability Victoria (03) 8626 8700

Published by Sustainability Victoria Level 28 Urban Workshop 50Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia. October 2015

While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, Sustainability Victoria gives no warranty regarding its accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose and, to the extent permitted by law, does not accept any liability for loss or damages incurred as a result of reliance placed upon the content of this publication. This publication is provided on the basis that all persons accessing it undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content.

The Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013 should be attributed to Sustainability Victoria.

The Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. In essence, you are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work and abide by the other licence terms. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/ Contents

Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013 3 Figures

4 Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012–2013 Tables 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

6 Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013 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.

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). 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.

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.

2Carre, A., Crossin, E., Clune, S. (2013), LCA of Kerbside Recycling in Victoria, Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne. 3Refers to local government owned and operated transfer station and resource recovery centres only. These sites may also be

8 Victorian Local Government Annual Survey 2012-2013 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. Forty- eight 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.

referred to as drop-off facilities. 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 1,600 ) 0 0 0

' 1,197 (

s 1,200 e n n o T 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.

4ABS 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). 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

) 45 % (

40 e t a r

n 29 33 o i 30 s r e v i D 20 23

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. 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

1,108 1,102 1,000

800 ) 0 0 0 ' 599 (

s 600 e n n o T 400 359 369

200 119

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. 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

1,200 ) 0

0 1,000 0 ' (

e 800 n n o

- Metro Non-Metro

Kerbside garbage Kerbside recyclables Kerbside green organics

Drop-off recyclables Drop-off 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 Drop-off Non-metro Drop-off green green recyclables organics organics 5% 12% <1% Drop-off recyclables Kerbside 2% green organics Kerbside 18% Kerbside green Kerbside garbage organics garbage 50% 12% 48%

Kerbside Kerbside recyclables recyclables 27% 26%

*Sum of components may not add to 100% because of rounding. 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. 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 (%) Green Green Waste & Resource Garbage Recyclables organics Recyclables organics Recovery Group (kerbside) (kerbside) (kerbside) (drop-off) (drop-off) Barwon South West 43 28 23 1 5 Gippsland 39 26 15 3 17 Metropolitan 49 27 18 0 5 Goulburn Valley 49 26 9 2 14 North East 54 27 6 2 11 Loddon Mallee 53 25 3 3 16 Grampians Central West 59 25 1 2 12 State average 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 (%) Kerbside (recyclables & green organics) and drop-off Waste & Resource Kerbside Kerbside recyclables (recyclables & Recovery Group recyclables & green organics green organics) Barwon South West 39 54 56 Gippsland 34 46 57 Metropolitan 33 45 48 Goulburn Valley 34 41 50 North East 32 36 44 Loddon Mallee 30 32 45 Grampians Central West 26 27 38 State 33 44 48% *Drop-off includes municipal (household) recyclables and green organics collected from transfer stations and resource recovery centres. 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 Metro Annual service cost $166,555,853 $39,812,515 $49,587,193 $255,955,561 Tonnes collected 813,316 442,099 300,095 1,555,510 Tonnes processed / recycled — 417,731 289,192 706,923 Total households serviced* 1,717,420 1,681,495 917,860 — Cost per tonne $204.79 $90.05 $165.24 $164.55 Cost per household $96.98 $23.68 $54.02 — Household yield (kg) 474 263 327 — Non-metro Annual service cost $63,027,627 $25,834,223 $11,061,007 $99,922,857 Tonnes collected 288,834 157,020 68,856 514,710 Tonnes processed / recycled — 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 Cost per household $98.12 $40.85 $46.84 — Household yield (kg) 450 248 292 — Total Annual service cost $229,583,480 $65,646,738 $60,648,200 $355,878,418 Tonnes collected 1,102,150 599,119 368,951 2,070,220 Tonnes processed / recycled — 563,818 357,590 921,409 Total households serviced* 2,359,764 2,313,972 1,153,985 — Cost per tonne $208.31 $109.57 $164.38 $171.90 Cost per household $97.29 $28.37 $52.56 — Household yield (kg) 467 259 320 — *Total households serviced may also include some commercial and industrial properties, Refer to Appendix B, Glossary for more details. 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. 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). 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 Total as a proportion Metro Non-metro State total of local governments Kerbside service (no.) (no.) (no.) (%) 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

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. 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. Table 6 Garbage services summary by service provision area6, Victoria 2011-12 to 2012-13

Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural Inner metropolitan metropolitan fringe provincial provincial 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 Cost per household $92.70 $96.52 $106.69 $95.42 $98.31 $113.58 $97.29 Household yield (kg) 429 506 428 480 417 452 467 2011-12 Annual service cost $42,322,713 $85,855,872 $21,307,293 $22,457,745 $25,398,082 $7,398,069 $204,739,774 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 Cost per household $84.72 $88.39 $100.35 $84.85 $95.82 $98.64 $89.48 Household yield (kg) 458 526 438 464 451 484 486 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 Total households serviced 2.9 4.3 2.7 -0.7 2.4 7.1 3.1 Cost per tonne 16.7 13.6 8.7 8.7 11.0 23.2 13.1 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. 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 35 s t 30 n e m n r 25 e v o g

a 20 c o l

15 r e b m

u 10 N

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

600 581 )

k 540 536 (

d 501 l 490 479 475 488 486 e 475 473

i 467 y

400 d l o h e

s 300 u o H 200

Since the baseline survey of 2001-02, household garbage generation has steadily decreased by nearly 20%, or 114kg per household, from 581kg to 467kg.

7State 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. 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

228 200 215 213 203 200 194 193 193 197 197 192 ) 191 n o s r 150 e p

100 d l e i Y

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.

8Refer 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 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

$200 208 )

$ 186 (

n $150 o t

e 142 p

o $100 113 C 105 95 88

$0 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 Rural Collection Inner Outer Melbourn Major Small Townshi State system Metropolitan Metropolitan e Fringe Provincial Provincial p 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. 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

600 ) g k

d l e i y

d 400 l o h e s

u 300 o H

0 80L 120L 140L 240L 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 Average Yield of 259 kg per household minimum yield - 60 Preferred Service s

t Standard n e

m 50 n

r 3 local governments e

v (of 79) below the o

g 40 minimum yield

l a c o l

f 30 o

m 20 u N

0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600

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.

9A commingled bin refers to one collection system used to accept containers and paper mixed together. 10A 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. 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

300 289 286 284 279 250 267 273 273 ) 259 g 251 k (

d l 224

e 200 i 210 y

d 195 l o

h 150 e s u o H 100

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). 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

115 113 112 112 100 109 110 ) 105 104 n

o 98 s r e

e 81 p 74 g

k 60 (

d l e i

Geographic comparison Table 9 summarises the variations between recyclables costs and yields by service provision area. 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 2012-13 Annual service cost $12,752,939 $20,862,156 $7,357,493 $7,015,167 $13,274,946 $4,384,037 $65,646,738 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 Cost per household $25.26 $21.13 $33.88 $27.18 $49.52 $56.01 $28.37 Household yield (kg) 228 274 294 260 239 232 259 2011-12 Annual service cost $14,551,354 $21,147,167 $8,364,732 $7,670,895 $12,565,781 $4,241,992 $68,541,922 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 Cost per household $29.49 $21.94 $38.73 $30.00 $48.10 $56.65 $30.26 Household yield (kg) 245 292 297 269 247 251 273 Per cent change Annual service cost -12.36 -1.35 -12.04 -8.55 5.64 3.35 -4.22 Tonnes collected -4.80 -3.80 -0.51 -2.57 -0.58 -3.01 -3.16 Total households serviced* 2.34 2.45 0.56 0.95 2.62 4.53 2.17 Cost per tonne -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 *Total households serviced may also include some commercial and industrial properties. Refer to Appendix B, Glossary, households serviced for more details. 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

600 622 604 608 613 619 599 561 500

) 537 0

0 496 0 ' (

s 400 431 e

n 397 n o 359 T 300

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). 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 20 local governments above the of $28.37 per maximum $50 per household cost, 30 household Preferred Service Standard s t

n 25 e m n r

e 20 v o g

c 15 o l

e 10 b m u

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. 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 Average cost 23 local governments above the maximum of $109.57 cost per tonne of $200, 35 per tonne Preferred Service Standard s

t 30 n e m n r 25 e v o g

a 20 c o l

f o 15 r e b m

u 10 N

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 $145 $150 e n n

o $125 t

$100 t $110 s o

C $75 $88

Garbage 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 Paper Plastic containers 33.0% 58.3% 8.7%

Glass clear 59.7% Paper white Glass office PET 88.6% 3.2% 30.7% HDPE clear Glass green 78.8% 16.8% Steel cans Paper mixed HDPE 8.1% 62.8% 40.8% HDPE coloured Glass brown 21.2% 23.5% Aluminium cans Cardboard PVC 3.3% 33.2% 0.2%

Liquid Other plastics paperboard 28.3% 0.8%

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.

12Estimates of the material composition from kerbside recycling are based on 56 detailed returns from local governments for plastic containers, miscellaneous containers and paper products. 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 (%) Non- Year Metro metro State 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 Figure 23 Contamination rate of kerbside recyclables by metro and non-metro local governments, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13

) 7.7 % (

8 7.0 e t a r

o 6 i t 6.3 a n

m 4 a t n o C 2

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

Number of local Cost per Cost per Household Contamination Collection system governments tonne household yield (kg) rate (%) 120L commingled weekly 6 $103.88 $21.95 211 8.8 240L commingled fortnightly 70 $108.28 $28.54 264 5.5 240L commingled weekly 1 np13 np 356 13.7 Other** 2 np np 189 9.1 State average 79 $109.57 $28.37 259 5.9 *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. 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

250 ) g k ( 200 d l e i y

o 150 h e s u o

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 14 increases the proportion of recyclables collected, resulting in more efficient kerbside recovery. PT 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.

14Diversion 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. 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 Diversion rate (%) Contamination rate (%) 80L 39 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 80L 120L 140L 240L Total 120L commingled weekly 2 4 — — 6 240L commingled fortnightly 7 44 17 2 70 240L fortnightly (containers) & tied bundle (paper) — 1 — — 1 monthly 240L commingled Weekly — — — 1 1 Crate (containers) weekly & tied bundle (paper) monthly — 1 — — 1 Total number of local governments 9 50 17 3 79 *Refers to the predominant collection system used by local governments 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.

15Please 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. 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 $60,648,200 Tonnes collected 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 Cost per household $51.32 $49.97 $94.39 $49.68 $38.01 $50.45 $52.56 Household yield (kg) 279 335 369 303 258 272 320 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 Tonnes collected 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 Cost per household $51.46 $48.80 $91.62 $47.52 $39.65 $50.31 $51.35 Household yield (kg) 305 375 383 334 238 274 351 Per cent change Annual service cost 3.4 3.6 10.7 5.5 -1.6 -1.6 4.3 Tonnes collected -5.2 -9.6 3.7 -8.3 11.5 -2.6 -7.1 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. 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

400 390 397 350 369 ) 0

0 300 0

' 315 (

e 250 n 267

n 257 256 o 239 248 T 200

150 179 141 100 119

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. 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

70 70 71 60 64 )

n 58 o

s 50 r e

p 50 50 49 r 47 48 e 40 p

g k ( 36 d

l 30 e i

Y 29 20 24

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 Inner Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural of service metropolitan metropolitan fringe provincial provincial township Total 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 *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. 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 Number of local Cost per Cost per Household yield service governments* tonne household (kg) Fortnightly 18 $140.31 $43.44 310 Other (i.e. weekly and monthly) 2 np16 np 354 Total 20 $142.98 $44.49 311 *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.

16Where there are less than 3 councils in any particular cell, data relating to cost is not published. 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 Total 120 L 5 — 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 Number of local Cost per Cost per on-call (kg) per on-call Participation governments* tonne service** service** rate*** (%)

On-call service 15 $367.85 $41.43 113 8 *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. 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.

17 Applying this data to the findings of the Life Cycle Assessment of Kerbside Recyclables in Victoria , 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

P  383,546 tonnes of greenhouse gases (such as COP2) a year, or taking 100,933 cars off the 18 road PT for a year  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.

17Carre, 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). 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 Roadside litter 63% 5% Cigarette bins <1%

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 No. of side entry litter traps 1,729 287 2,016 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 No. of side entry litter traps 2,309 328 2,637 No. of in-line litter traps 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 Per cent change No. of litter bins 5.9 -22.8 -9.4 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. 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 Road Cigarette rubbish side litter bins Total 2012-13 $4,254,97 Annual service cost $7,503,653 7 $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 No. of penalties issued 1,630 n.a. n.a. 1,630 No. of cigarette bins n.a. n.a. 2,492 2,492 2011-12 $3,891,58 Annual service cost $6,273,513 4 $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 Per cent change Annual service cost 19.6 9.3 8.7 15.5 Tonnes collected 9.4 -17.0 n.a. -1.3 No. of call outs 60.2 n.a. n.a. 60.2 No. of penalties issued 102.5 n.a. n.a. 102.5 No. of cigarette bins 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. 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 Non-metro State total 2012-13 $46,720,968 $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

$10 $10.35 $10.35 $9.94 $9.09 $9.23 $9.20

n $8.96

s $8.43 r e p

r $7.35 e p

t $6 $6.67 s $6.25 o C

*No survey was conducted for the street sweeping component of the 2003-04 survey. Data has been estimated from existing information for this period. Table 23 Street sweeping annual service cost by service provision area, Victoria 2012-13

Inner Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural Metropolitan Metropolitan Fringe Provincial Provincial Township State total Annual service $28,075,875 $14,875,374 $4,206,400 $4,792,446 $5,153,338 $2,272,752 $59,376,186 cost No. of local 10 16 6 6 24 13 75 governments

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

Rural Township 4% Small Provincial 9%

Major Provincial 8% Inner Metropolitan Melbourne Fringe 47% 7%

Outer Metropolitan 25% 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 Inner Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural State kerbside service metropolitan metropolitan fringe provincial provincial township 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

30 ) 0 0 0 ' (

r 20 e b m u N

0 Inner Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural Metropolitan Metropolitan Fringe Provincial Provincial Township

Garbage 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. 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 Outer Melbourne Major Small Rural State metropolitan metropolitan fringe provincial provincial township total 2012-13 $3,189,21 $24,694, Annual service cost $5,494,035 $15,684,215 4 $12,539 $277,701 $36,729 433 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 (%) 16% 30% 2% 78% 85% 0% 24% Total households 1,741,14 serviced* 491,749 976,706 186,736 14,834 60,389 10,733 7 Cost per tonne $327.75 $233.12 $293.48 $84.72 $278.61 $49.37 $255.11 Cost per household $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 $21,442, Annual service cost $5,193,845 $14,191,859 3 $12,000 $280,088 $46,667 152 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 (%) 17% 13% 3% 77% 26% 0% 13% Total households 1,643,98 serviced* 479,395 952,141 156,453 2,443 47,949 5,600 1 Cost per tonne $321.71 $258.53 $223.26 $720.72 $381.55 $466.67 $269.43 Cost per household $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 Per cent change 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 (%) -6.0 131.0 -38.7 0.9 -44.5 — 85.5 Total households serviced* 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. 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 Average household yield 56 kg

20 s t n e m n r e

v 15 o g

l a c o l

r e b m u N 5

0 0 50 100 150 200 250 More

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 Inner Outer Frequency of metropolita metropolita Melbourne Major Small Rural State service n n fringe provincial provincial township total Annual 4 4 1 — 5 2 16 Bi-annual 1 1 1 — 1 — 4 Monthly — — — — 1 — 1 On-call 5 12 2 1 — 1 21 Total 10 17 4 1 7 3 42 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 Major Small Inner Outer Melbourn provincia provincia Rural State metropolitan metropolitan e fringe l l township 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

Total landfills 0 8 1 7 44 25 85 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

Total landfills closed 0 0 0 0 3 2 5 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). Figure 32 Number of licensed / unlicensed landfills and TSRRCs, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13*

300 277

195 200

100 105 46 50 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. 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 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 TSRRCs Total % of total Main items recovered Tonnes Plastic containers 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 Steel cans 15,999 938 16,937 1.5 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. 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

5,738 5,631 5,000 5,372 5,461 5,538 ) 5,256 0 5,127 5,154 0 4,981 5,049

0 4,863 4,923 ' (

n 4,000 o i t a l u p

o 3,000 P

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. Figure 35 Tonnes collected for the three main kerbside services, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13

1,108 1,102 1,000

800 ) 0 0 0 '

e 600 n n o T 359 400 369

200 119

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

228 200

) 192 n o s r

e 150 p

r e p 104 g k ( 100 d e l

i 74 Y

50 64 24

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Table 29 Transition of Regional Waste Management Groups to Waste & Resource Recovery Groups

New Waste & Resource Former Waste Management Recovery Group (WRRG) Group (RWMG)

South West RWMG Barwon South West WRRG Barwon RWMG

Gippsland WRRG Gippsland RWMG Goulburn Valley WRRG Goulburn Valley RWMG Desert Fringe RWMG Grampians Central West WRRG Grampians RWMG Highlands RWMG Mildura RWMG Loddon Mallee WRRG Central Murray RWMG Calder RWMG North East WRRG North East RWMG

Metropolitan RWMG Metropolitan WRRG 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 non- metropolitan 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 non- metropolitan 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. 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:  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. 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. 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 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 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 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

Diversion Diversion Diversion Rank Local government 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% Table 32 continued

Diversion Diversion Diversion Rank Local government 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% Table 32 continued

Diversion Diversion Diversion rate Rank Local government 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. 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 Household yield (kg)

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 240L (containers) Fortnightly & Tied Bundle Hindmarsh Shire Council (paper) monthly 228 Hobsons Bay City Council 240L commingled Fortnightly 258 Table 33 continued

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 Table 33 continued

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 Crate (containers) Weekly & West Wimmera Shire Council 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 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 Table 34 continued

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

Nillumbik Shire Council 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

Table 34 continued

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

State average n.a. 467 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 Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes year collected collected 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 Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes year collected recycled collected recycled collected 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 Table 37 Green organics kerbside tonnes collected trend, 2001-02 to 2012-13 Green organics kerbside service Metro Non-metro State total Reference Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes year collected processed collected processed collected 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 Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes year collected recycled collected recycled collected 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. 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 Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes year collected disposed collected disposed collected 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 2003-2004* 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 * Hard waste services provided by local governments were not surveyed during 2003-2004. Table 41 Annual service cost trend by kerbside service, 2001-02 to 2012-13

Reference Total waste year Garbage Recyclables Green organics 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 Green Total waste year Garbage Recyclables organics 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 Appendix F Population and CPI trend figures

Table 43 Population trend, Victoria 2001-02 to 2012-13

% change % change Reference from from base year Population previous year year 2001-02 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

CPI, All % change % change Reference groups, from previous from base year Melbourne year 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.

86 Sustainability Victoria

1300 363 744 Published by Sustainability Victoria Level 28 Urban Workshop 50Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia. October 2015 sustainability.vic.gov.au