Waste Disposal and Kerbside Collection

The new 3 bin household waste system allows food and garden waste to be collected, as well as general waste and recycling. 

The three bins are:

• One 240L GREEN LID BIN for organics (garden and food waste)
• One 240L YELLOW LID BIN for recycling
• One 240L RED LID BIN for general waste 

The new system will begin in Deniliquin in July 2024.

It will include all households currently receiving a domestic waste collection.

Commercial premises, villages and outlying areas are not included at this stage but may be considered in the future.

The collection schedule will be:

• WEEKLY collection of 240L organics bin (food organics and garden organics) Green lid
• FORTNIGHTLY collection of 240L recycling bin – Yellow lid
• FORTNIGHTLY collection of 240L general waste bin – Red lid

This represents over 100% increase in the volume of waste removed from each household compared to the current 1 bin system.

Every year your garbage charge increases slightly in line with inflation. Next year there is an additional change due to the introduction of an organics bin and recycling bin to every Edward River Council household (who currently already have a domestic waste collection service) from July 2024.  More details about these charges will be available next year as part of the community consultation of all council fees and charges. At this stage it is anticipated to be an increase of around $150 to the Domestic Waste Management Charge.

All households will be provided with a new red lid bin for rubbish, a yellow lid bin for recycling and green lid bin for organics. You will also receive a kitchen caddy and compostable liners about a week before the start of the new collections.

No, the new bins will be delivered with clear instructions and directions for use. More information about how the system will operate will be provided to you closer to the start date, which is anticipated to be in July 2024.

You will be receiving an organics bin, for your food scraps and garden matter, to reduce the quantity and content of waste going to landfill. Approximately half the content of the average household rubbish bin is organic material. Currently, this is sent to Deniliquin Landfill which is rapidly filling up. If Council does not reduce how much waste goes to landfill, prices will need to rise substantially. These costs will be passed on to ratepayers. 

You can put in all your food scraps including fish, meat and bones, coffee grounds and cooked foods. Garden waste such as prunings, grass clippings, sticks, weeds and flowers can also be included. However, you cannot include things like plastic bin liners, general household waste, treated or laminated timber or old clothing. These need to go in your general waste bin.

You will receive a new red lid rubbish bin for general waste and it will be emptied fortnightly instead of weekly. Data from other councils in our region shows that about half of what is currently being put into the red bin could be composted through the organics service, reducing the need to collect the bin every week. 

Each household will receive a kitchen tidy bin and compostable liners especially to hold food waste. These liners can then be placed in your new organics bin.

Six councils in the Murray and Riverina regions – Berrigan, Edward River, Leeton, Greater Hume, Federation and Murrumbidgee - are introducing the organics bin. These six councils all obtained funding to introduce the organics bin through the NSW EPA, Go FOGO Round 1 grant program. They will join Murray River and Albury City in delivering a consistent waste and recycling message across the Murray and Riverina regions.  

The introduction of the organics service in NSW councils has been mandated by the NSW Government to help reduce the strain on landfills and utilise the compost generated in our region’s agricultural industries.  

The new green lid organics bin can be seen as an extension to the great work you’re already doing. And, the new service can accept things that your compost heap or pet may not like – things such as citrus, onions, bones, weeds and diseased and infected fruit or vegetables.   

As a community we pay for many services as part of our rates that benefit the community, even if every individual resident may not utilise them. Reducing the pressure on landfill and generating a valuable resource for our region’s agricultural industries helps Council to reduce the cost of landfill space into the future.

Every council in NSW has a Government-mandated target of 80% diversion from landfill by 2030. We can’t achieve this as a community unless we recycle as well as compost our food and garden waste.  

If we don’t achieve this target we will need to invest in new landfill space sooner.

Currently Edward River only recycles through community recycling (e.g. container deposit scheme and recycle centres). This is very low compared to other areas with the 3 bin service who are already achieving 70-80% diversion from landfill from kerbside bins.

The green lid organics bin will reduce the amount of waste in your general waste by around 50%. And much of what is left can go into the yellow lid recycling bin to save filling up our local landfill.

A regional kerbside bin audit from 2022 showed that there is about 8-10kg of recyclable materials per household in a fortnightly collection. Having a recycling bin as well as a organics bin means we don’t need as much space in our general waste bin. And less waste goes to landfill!    

The amount of waste generated by households has been increasing over the past 30 years. In 1996 each person in Australia generated 125kg of waste annually. In 2019 this amount had tripled to 370kg per person annually!

We must increase our recycling efforts just to keep up, otherwise there will be no landfill space to put all the waste.  

When we recycle, materials become available for local and regional businesses to utilise and this creates business and employment opportunities.  ‘Green Pipe’ in Moama utilises HDPE/LDPE plastics from milk and juice bottles and lids to manufacture pipes from items in our neighbouring council’s recycling service. 

There is a common misconception that everything in a landfill just ‘rots down eventually anyway’ – this isn’t the case.  Aside from being useful resources plastics, metals, wood and other resources never really break down (or take hundreds of years) and once they are in the landfill they can’t be used again. 

The recycling contractors must report back on where our recycling goes and how much is being recycled.  Visit Recycling Waste – Halve Waste and click on “What does my recycling become” to find out what happens to the aluminium cans and plastics in your recycling.

Five main categories of materials will be collected:  Aluminium (cans and clean foil), Steel (cans), glass (bottles and jars), hard plastic containers (milk bottles, shampoo bottles) and cardboard and paper (boxes, newspapers, paper, magazines).

To get ready for the new waste service information will be provided to all residents about what to recycle in the yellow lid bin. Keep an eye on our website and facebook over the next 12 months to find out more.

You will be provided with detailed information about the new 3 bin system in the lead-up to its introduction.  In the meantime, you can find further information on our website, facebook or by phoning Customer Service on 03 5898 3000.

Visit Halve Waste www.halvewaste.com.au for information about recycling and waste services in our region.