Purple pushback: Bass Coast Shire one of 35 councils railing against glass recycling bins

The scheme aims to help Victoria divert 80 percent of all material away from landfill by 2030.

Jacob Wallace
March 23, 2026

At the Bass Coast Shire council meeting last week, councillors unanimously voted to oppose the Victorian Government's mandated kerbside glass service.

The council joins 34 others in taking the fight as a unified front to the state.

What happened: Bass Coast Shire estimates the service would cost millions of dollars to set up and operate, and would lead to an increase of up to $42 in council rates per household annually.

Councillor Jon Temby told the council meeting: “Not only is the process unnecessary, but it would be financially irresponsible to require us to implement it.”

Purple bins, sorry what? The state government has mandated that 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.

The councils opposing the rollout argue the scheme would be too costly to regional areas, where trucks have to travel longer distances and the existing Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) is adequate.

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Nick Dudley said most people should already have access to the information required.

What’s the CDS?

Under the CDS, Gippsland residents can take glass drinking bottles to drop off points run by contractor Return-It and receive a 10 cent refund per bottle.

The CDS refund is not available for all glass products.

But the CDS has faced issues including network connectivity, which impacts the ability to process containers; vandalism of container deposit points; theft of stored containers and complaints regarding the scheme's functionality.

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“I was the city engineer, town planner, building surveyor, all of them rolled into one.”

What’s the alternative?

Councillor Meg Edwards suggested a communal glass bin in each town for residents to drop their recycling.

Councillor Jan Thompson suggested the CDS could be expanded to accept all glass products.

Councillor Mat Morgan said: “If the government was serious about reducing waste it would be mandating standardised reusable packaging.”

Other councils opposing the purple bin rollout include East Gippsland Shire and Latrobe City Council.

Baw Baw Shire has already introduced a glass bin collection service.