The Shire of Murray has not approved a three-bin rollout, but it has not permanently rejected one either. On 27 June 2024, Council unanimously voted to retain its two-bin service in the medium term, endorse the feasibility study and conduct another study in 2027/28 for possible consideration of a 2030 rollout. The review date is not a promise that a third bin will arrive three years later.
What did the Shire of Murray decide?
Council voted 9–0 on 27 June 2024 to keep the existing two-bin collection in the medium term and support a further feasibility study in 2027/28. That later study is intended to inform consideration of a possible three-bin rollout in 2030; it does not approve that rollout. The decision is recorded in the confirmed Council minutes.
So, describing the decision as a rejection “for a further three years” is misleading if it suggests a binding start date. The formal commitment is to revisit the feasibility question, not to introduce a third bin automatically when that period ends.
Why did the Shire defer a three-bin service?
The Shire commissioned Talis Consultants to assess the technical and financial implications of a third-bin garden organics (GO) or food organics and garden organics (FOGO) service, while taking account of its waste-to-energy (WtE) commitment. The Council agenda report describes several considerations behind the decision.
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WtE commitment and potential costs
The report says the Shire had an earlier contractual commitment to supply waste to a WtE facility. Diverting FOGO material could affect the tonnage committed under that arrangement and potentially trigger a penalty. Adding collection and processing services would also bring costs, so the Council was weighing more than the cost of a third bin alone.
State policy and the Shire’s waste plan
The Council report says the State’s 2019 Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 set an objective for Perth and Peel local governments to transition to three-bin kerbside collection and separate FOGO by 2025. It also says the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) did not endorse the Shire’s submitted waste plan because it lacked a commitment to implement FOGO by 2025. That is the Council report’s account of DWER’s decision; it should not be read as evidence that a new collection service was imposed on the Shire by that date.
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Contract timing and unresolved financial factors
The existing kerbside contract did not provide for FOGO. The agenda report said rates for those services were expected to be included in a future contract commencing 1 July 2028. That timing helps explain the planned sequence, but a contract start date does not itself guarantee that the Shire will adopt FOGO.
At the time, officers also identified a possible Peel-region landfill levy, a WtE plant levy, the pending review of Waste Strategy 2030 and future funding opportunities as factors that could affect financial delivery. The cited material does not establish what became of those uncertainties.
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What would FOGO have cost per household?
A 2024 PerthNow/Mandurah Times report said the feasibility study found the two-bin option to be least expensive per household and estimated that FOGO would add about $108 per household in operational cost in its first year. This is a contemporaneous media account of a study estimate—not a current household bill increase, a final rate or a figure independently verified from the study appendix.
How do the two service options compare?
| Decision factor | Two-bin service | Three-bin GO or FOGO service |
|---|---|---|
| Household operating cost | The 2024 PerthNow/Mandurah Times account describes it as the least expensive option per household. | The same report attributes an estimated additional operational cost of about $108 per household in FOGO’s first year to the feasibility study. |
| WtE commitment | Retains the existing service while the Shire’s WtE commitment remains relevant. | Diverting FOGO could affect committed waste tonnage and potentially trigger a penalty, according to the Council report. |
| State strategy context | Does not implement the three-bin objective described in the Council report. | Would align with the report’s account of the State strategy objective for Perth and Peel local governments to separate FOGO by 2025. |
| Contract timing | The existing kerbside contract covered the current service, not FOGO. | Rates for FOGO services were expected to be included in a future contract commencing 1 July 2028; adoption was not guaranteed. |
| Financial uncertainties | Future levies, strategy changes and funding could affect the broader waste-service context. | The same uncertainties could affect the cost and delivery of a new service; their later outcomes are not established in the cited material. |
What waste services can residents use now?
The Shire’s current waste and recycling page describes general waste and recycling bins, alongside separate scheduled verge collections for green waste and hard waste. Those verge collections are not the same as a regular household FOGO bin service. The Shire directs residents to Cleanaway about new, damaged, stolen or replacement bins.
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