Cleaning up council recycling contracts

The Victorian Government is cutting red tape to help local councils deliver better, more sustainable kerbside collection services to their communities now and in the future.

Victorian Minister for Local Government Adem Somyurek has issued a state-wide exemption for local councils to remove the administrative barriers to extend their recycling collection contracts to June 2021.

Councils will be able to continue with existing services while they work together to develop contracts that support the delivery of larger recycling volumes – the economies of scale needed to encourage investment in infrastructure and attract new entrants to the Victorian recycling sector.

The future shared contracting of recycling services across multiple municipalities will help local councils save money in management and procurement costs.

Attracting more operators into the market will help lift the standard of waste collection operators and reduce service costs by driving competition.

The Victorian Budget 2019/20 is investing an additional $35 million to strengthen and diversify Victoria’s waste and recycling industry.

This latest package builds on the $37 million Recycling Industry Strategic Plan, released in July 2018 – bringing the Victorian Government’s investment in the waste and resource recovery industry to more than $135 million.

Source: Vic Government