Wellington Shire Council's vision is for happy people, healthy environment and thriving communities.
After Hours Emergency
1300 366 244All serviced properties are provided with two wheelie bins, a 120 litre bin for rubbish (collected weekly) and a 240 litre bin for recycling (collected fortnightly).
Only properties within 'Declared Collection Areas' receive the kerbside bin collection service. These properties receive a separate charge for waste management on their Rates Notices. The Declared Collection Areas are selected based on land zonings and include residential, town zone and low density rural residential adjacent to town zone.
Properties outside the 'Declared Collection Areas' should dispose of their waste at their nearest Waste Facility.
For acreage and rural properties outside waste collection zones the EPA Farm Waste Guide provides a useful resource to understand your waste related obligations as a responsible landowner.
Sale Residents: Sale is collected over multiple days - residents can view the Sale Garbage Collection Map to determine their collection zone.
Our waste collection workers will be taking a well-deserved break on Christmas Day. To accommodate this, kerbside bin collections will run a day later for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday bin day properties during the Christmas week.
Here’s how the schedule looks:
Collections return to the usual schedule the following week.
Council engages the services of a contractor to undertake their waste collection - the current contractor is Cleanaway.
To request a new bin service, please check our 'Declared Area' boundaries to see whether your property is required to have a kerbside collection pickup. If you meet the boundary requirements, please call Council’s Customer Service Centre to arrange a new service.
Please call Cleanaway on (03) 5133 6872 if:
The small 120-litre bin collected weekly is used for household rubbish which goes to landfill. Bag your rubbish to help keep your bin clean and avoid bad smells. Use your 120-litre bin for all household rubbish that you cannot put in our kerbside recycle bin such as:
No E-waste including light globes, batteries or anything with a battery or cord is to be placed in the landfill bin.
The large 240-litre bin collected fortnightly is used for commingled recycling only. Place your recyclables loose in your bin - do not put them in plastic bags. Empty / scrape out containers to avoid contamination and flatten boxes and cans to save room. You do not need to rinse or remove labels. Your 240-litre bin should be used for the following recyclables - for more information on what you can put in your recycle bin, see the Re.Group’s website.
This video was filmed in 2022. The kerbside collection contractor has since changed to Cleanaway Gippsland. If you have any enquiries about your recycling bin collection service, phone Cleanaway on (03) 5133 6872.
Bins must be placed out before 6.00am on collection day, and should be:
Where does garbage and recycling go once I put my bin out?
General waste (small 120L bin) is transported to the Kilmany Landfill, which is highly engineered to meet Environmental Protection standards that are regulated by law.
Wellington Shire’s recycling is collated at a warehouse in Morwell then transported to Re. Group’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Dandenong South.
Visit ReGroup’s website for more information.
Why are some properties outside the Declared Area Zone getting a bin collection service?
During the amalgamation of the Shire of Alberton, Shire of Avon, Shire of Maffra and City of Sale and parts of the Shire of Rosedale in 1994, some properties retained their right to a bin collection service due to the differing policies for each Shire area.
Due to the size of the Wellington Shire, the cost of provision of bin collection services to all households and farms is financially unviable. As such, bin collection is reserved for areas where health and amenity impacts are of greatest concern, particularly where population densities are higher.
Why is it taking so long to get a green waste bin?
We understand - it’s been a slow-moving process. It’s been in the works for quite a few years, and we're aiming to roll out a FOGO bin (food organics and garden organics) as soon as possible, depending on processing capabilities within Gippsland. Frustratingly, it takes time to ensure local infrastructure for processing organics is in place.
Wellington Shire Council has been part of a joint procurement process, working with Bass Coast Shire, Baw Baw Shire, East Gippsland Shire, Latrobe City and South Gippsland Shire Councils to secure contracts for the collection, transport, processing and recycling of kerbside waste. This ‘Gippswide Kerbside’ tender evaluation panel is still finalising contract details with the preferred tenderer for FOGO processing. It is possible infrastructure will still need to be built once the contract is finalised.
Currently, green waste is collected at our Transfer Stations and is processed by Council’s contractor, who turns it into mulch and dirt. Once food is added to the mix, it needs to be processed differently to be safely turned into compost and soil conditioner without becoming a bio hazard. This can involve the need for contractors to build specialised processing infrastructure, such as in-vessel composting silos.
At this stage, we’re expecting FOGO to be rolled out to residents in mid-2025. Everyone who currently gets a kerbside collection will get an organics bin, which will be collected weekly.
The state government has legislated all households have access to services for glass recycling by 2027, and to food organics and garden organics by 2030. According to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, currently only about 32 per cent of Australians have access to FOGO. The infrastructure needed to process triple the volume currently generated by Australians is simply not there yet, but we are hopeful the state government’s timeline will bring forward some innovation and investment in the FOGO space.
As for a glass bin, we are waiting to see the impacts the state government’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) has on the glass waste stream to determine what glass recycling will look like in Wellington Shire, in order to ensure the best value for residents. The CDS will come into play November 2023.
It is exciting to hear there’s such strong community support for FOGO and glass recycling. The waste and sustainability team are counting down the days!