Bin basket trial for bottles and cans in Boroondara
Priya Mohandoss
While strolling through your local surrounds you may have come across some strategically placed white wired baskets attached to the side of public litter bins.
During the past few months, Boroondara Council has been trialing a new method of recycling via the use of bin baskets. This is a part of Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS Vic), a State government initiative endorsing the recycling of approved containers for a 10-cent refund.
For the trial, the bin baskets have been assigned to specific areas with at least one located in each of the 13 main suburbs within Boroondara.
Cr Wes Gault, Mayor of Boroondara said: ‘We are in the process of rolling out 200 of these new baskets across Boroondara, and we have already had great feedback on how well they are working.’
This trial provides another opportunity for residents who are unable to take their eligible items to refund points, such as reverse vending machines or over-the-counter sites. They can now put them in bin baskets whilst pursuing day-to-day activities. In turn, this allows for those who do use the CDS Vic system to obtain the reimbursement from these items for either personal use or towards a community group or charity.
Eligible items that can be left in the bin baskets are those that have the 10c mark on their packaging. These include:
- Soft drink cans and bottles
- Bottled waters, both plastic and glass
- Small, flavoured milk drinks
- Beer and cider cans and bottles
- Sports drinks and spirit-based mixed drinks
The bin baskets offer a practical means to collect eligible items and assist in the recovery of resources such as aluminium for reuse. In addition, this initiative will do much to reduce the amount of litter accumulating in landfill. ‘By the time we are done, more than two thirds of public litter bins will have a basket, providing a convenient alternative place for residents to place eligible containers’, said Mr Gault. VicReturn, the not-for-profit scheme co-ordinator that oversees CDS Vic, will determine the future of the trial after its completion on December 31.
For more details on the bin basket trials, refund points and item eligibility, visit: https://cdsvic.org.au/bin-baskets