Free hard waste collection service a ‘win-win’

Council will offer Greater Shepparton residents a three cubic metre collection from their nature strip twice a year, which is the equivalent of six trips to a Resource Recovery Centre.

At its June meeting, Greater Shepparton City Council approved the introduction of the service which will start on July 1, 2026.

The service forms part of council’s provision of waste services to meet state government requirements.

Cr Fern Summer who moved the motion was particularly excited, even reciting an original poem that she wrote while arguing about hard rubbish in 2023.

She said she’d been advocating for the service for 14 years from when she first ran for council, and a hard rubbish collection was something “the community desperately wanted”.

Cr Summer said although the new collection would be another “major waste transition” for the community and could be met with some angst, she said overall it was a “win-win”.

Cr Sam Spinks seconded the motion, saying the new service was the “stronger, smarter way” for people to dispose of their hard waste, and the “smart option to move forward with”.

City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali said the introduction of the service followed a review of council’s current resource recovery operations, to identify opportunities for improvement of services.

“Council wanted to improve the level of service to ratepayers and customers, improve landfill diversion outcomes to align with state targets, and improve our net financial position,” he said.

“The introduction of a hard waste collection service is a win for residents, but also a win for council in helping achieve these resource recovery targets.

“The service provides residents who may not have the means to travel to one of the resource recovery centres the opportunity to appropriately dispose of their items.”

The introduction of the service follows the EPA Levy increase of 28 per cent from July 1.

Cr Anthony Brophy spoke to the motion, saying he had a number of concerns, noting hard rubbish wasn’t one of the top 20 issues raised from the 2024 local government elections.

“This is economically driven - not environmentally, not because the public have recently asked for it, but because this council ...has astronomical increases to their waste charges,” he said.

He also said there had been “no direct public engagement” with the policy.

Cr Brophy said he was being “pragmatic and realistic”, but was open to feedback.

The motion was carried, with Cr Brophy voting against.

Council officers will now complete an open tender procurement process to implement the new service across Greater Shepparton.