Waste and recycling for business

Bin services for businesses 

If you run a business in the shire and would like to find out more about Council's kerbside bin collection service, see Order bins and bin charges.

Collected weekly, the FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) service allows all food waste, including meat and bones, to go in your FOGO bin. Paper towel, napkins, tissues and certified compostable packaging, like coffee cups, can also go in your FOGO bin.

At the start of this service most businesses received a 7 litre kitchen caddy and a year's supply of caddy liners. When approached by Council, hospitality businesses indicated that they would prefer a 240 litre bin liner rather than the 7 litre kitchen caddy due to the commercial volume of food waste that they produce. When hospitality businesses commence their FOGO service, they will be provided with a year's supply of 240 litre bin liners.

Replacement liners are available for purchase from your local resource recovery facility, from our customer service centres and from visitor information centres at Woodend and Kyneton. Alternatively, you can empty all organic waste directly into the bin to save time and cost of liners.

With the introduction of the FOGO service, businesses may find that multiple general waste bins are no longer needed. Contact our customer service team to reduce your general waste bins and request additional FOGO bins.

 

Plastic bag ban

From 1 November 2019, the Victorian Government banned the use of lightweight plastic shopping bags.

The ban applies to ALL retailers – including supermarkets, greengrocers, bakeries, pharmacies, clothes stores, restaurants, cafes, markets, food outlets, and many more.

The ban applies to all lightweight plastic shopping bags which have a thickness of 35 microns or less at any part of the bag, including degradable, biodegradable and compostable bags.

More information is available on the VicBagBan website.

Single-use plastics ban 

From 1 February 2023, problematic single-use plastics will be banned from sale or supply in Victoria.

The ban applies to single-use plastic drinking straws, cutlery, plates, drink stirrers and cotton bud sticks made from conventional, degradable, and compostable plastics. The ban also applies to food service items and drink containers made from expanded polystyrene.

People who need single-use plastic drinking straws for accessibility or medical needs, can still purchase and use these items.

To learn more about the ban and find out what support and resources are available to you visit the Victorian Government Website.

Managing food waste

Food waste containing meat, other animal by-products, some dairy products and any food that has come into contact with these prohibited foods must not be fed to pigs. 

These foods can contain viruses that cause diseases in animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease. 

These viruses are not destroyed by chilling, freezing, curing or cooking. 

Some examples of food that must not be provided to farmers are: 

  • vegetables, rice, pasta and other food that has been in direct contact with meat or meat products
  • pizza bun rolls
  • meat pies
  • bacon and cheese rolls, salad rolls containing meat 
  • Caesar salad (because it contains bacon pieces) 
  • steak, hamburgers, sausages and butcher’s shop waste 
  • milk products such as yoghurt, butter and cheese. 

Businesses that prepare and sell food, such as restaurants, bakeries, hotels, fast food outlets and hospitals, have a responsibility to dispose of food waste appropriately.  

Prohibited food waste should be placed in an appropriate garbage bin for collection by the council or commercial waste service for disposal in landfill or composting at an appropriate recycling facility. 

Illegal activities include: 

  • feeding prohibited food waste to pigs 
  • supplying prohibited food waste to feed pigs 
  • collecting prohibited food waste from food premises to provide to a piggery. 

More information on these restrictions is available from the Department of Agriculture

Disposing of building materials

Our resource recovery facilities accept small domestic size loads of building waste and hard waste. Large commercial loads will not be accepted.