No purple bin: Latrobe knocks back $3.7 million glass-recycling roll out

"It would be a bit mad to go ahead with it," said one councillor.

Jacob Wallace
July 02, 2026

Latrobe City Council has decided not to roll out an individual home glass recycling bin service after a report estimated the scheme would cost an initial $3.7 million and $500,000 a year to run.

What happened: At a meeting on Monday, Latrobe City councillors unanimously voted to scrap the idea of a separate kerbside glass-recycling bin in favour of using existing drop-off points at transfer stations.

Councillor Steph Morgan told the meeting the council had received nearly 2,000 responses to its survey on the roll out of the purple bins.

After reviewing the responses, councillor Morgan concluded providing adequate drop-off points would meet the community’s needs while satisfying the Victorian government’s mandate.

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What purple bins? The state government has mandated councils implement a home glass bin service from July 1, 2027.

This would mean residents would have four bins: one each for general waste (red), green waste (green), glass (purple) and non-glass recyclables (yellow).

The scheme aims to further Victoria's goal of diverting 80 percent of all material away from landfill by 2030.

Many Gippsland councils have opposed the rollout, arguing the scheme would be too costly to regional areas, where trucks often travel longer distances and existing transfer stations and the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) are adequate.

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What drop-off points?

Instead of a home glass bin collection, Latrobe City will implement a drop-off service at existing transfer stations, which also meets the criteria of the state government laws.

Councillors framed it as the cheaper, evidence-based option, pointing to a $3.7 million set-up cost and $500,000 a year to run the collection service.

Morgan told the chamber: "It would be a bit mad to go ahead with it."

Station to station: There are currently four transfer stations in Latrobe City Council - Morwell, Traralgon, Moe and Yinnar.

Morgan said if the transfer station drop-off proves too hard to access for residents, the council will look at implementing new transfer stations in other towns.