Confusion as Aussie state makes huge $129 million bin change from July 1: 'No way'
The woman was shocked by the surprise delivery, but it's part of a new national waste scheme – but not everyone is happy with it.
An Aussie woman was puzzled by a surprising find in her front yard. She shared her reaction as she opened her door to discover a new green-lidded bin sitting next to her two previous household bins, unaware it is part of a national rollout of a new waste management system.
In her video the Melbourne woman asks others what's going on. “Where did this dude come from?" she says. "Has anyone else received this extra rubbish bin out of nowhere?”
The woman then jokingly asks her other bins: “Did you know about this dude here? Who invited him? Who is he? He’s a random.”
She then pans the camera to a new green-lid bin'. On top a sign reads: ‘You can start using this bin from July 1 . The bin is part of the food and garden organics (FOGO) program which is being rolled out across Australia with the goal of reducing the amount of organic waste that ends up in landfill.
But obviously, the information about the new system was lost on the woman, who claimed due to the cost of living crisis she's not even filling one bin.
"Ain't no way I can fill three bins. We don't have luxuries like we used to...
"Why are we having more bins, when we can't even have proper decent meals anymore and council is sending us more bins. We don't need more bins."
What’s the extra bin for?
The new bins will help Australia meet the federal government's target of halving the amount of organic waste sent to landfills by 2030.
So far in Victoria, 55 out of the state’s 79 councils have received their new recycling bin, as part of the government’s $129 million plan to support councils to reform household recycling, which will also include a purple-lid bin for glass. At its current level, the FOGO service is keeping over 500,000 tonnes of organic material out of landfill each year.
“Our new household recycling services will maximise our recycling capacity, create new jobs and divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2023, while helping to reduce emissions by 50 per cent,” a spokesperson from the Victorian Government told Yahoo News Australia.
“The four-stream recycling system will work alongside our new Container Deposit Scheme to make it easier than ever for Victorians to recycle their glass, so that it can be turned into new products.”
These new services, which are expected to create almost 4,000 new jobs and boost the state economy by up to $6.7 billion, are being rolled out by councils according to the needs of their local communities.
What can go in the green bin?
The FOGO bin, which also comes with a small kitchen caddy to help collect and carry food scraps from the kitchen to the green-lid bin, is used to recycle food scraps and garden clippings.
This can include things like fruit and vegetable peelings, cooked leftovers, eggshells, meat and bones, grass clippings, flowers, leaves and garden cuttings, according to Hume Council, where the Melbourne woman lives.
After the green-lid bins have been collected, the contents are taken to local commercial composting facilities where the material is composted and recycled into a valuable resource that can be used as a soil conditioner.
Green bins get controversial rollout
While the green-lid rollout is in full swing across the country, it’s not without controversy.
In Bassendean, Western Australia, a petition was launched last year to reinstall weekly general waste removals, after the service was scaled back to fortnightly when the FOGO bins were introduced, with locals complaining that rubbish was overflowing in the streets.
Similar scenes have also been witnessed in Yarra Ranges Council, southeast of Melbourne, after it began rolling out the three-bin system in 2023. Locals said trash was piling up at home after councils cut general waste bin collections in half.
While in Sydney, a man claimed his green lid bin “has become the most disgusting thing ever” despite the contents being collected on a weekly basis. “Ours is covered in flies, stinks to the high heavens and ... is swarming with maggots inside,” he said on Facebook.
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