In Summary
- Textile drop-off points have been reinstated at the Ardmona, Murchison and Shepparton Resource Recovery Centres, with RecycleCare now managing the service.
- Since launching in October 2023, over 20 tonnes of textiles have been diverted from landfill through this popular community program.
- Due to changes in processing operations, Council will temporarily send nappies to landfill, though the weekly collection service will continue without disruption.
- Council remains committed to improving waste diversion and will keep the community informed of any changes to nappy processing as technologies evolve.
The textile disposal service proved to be a highly regarded and utilised service in the municipality, with more than 20 tonnes of textiles collected and diverted from landfill since its commencement in October 2023. Following the disbandment of the service in December last year due to market forces, Council worked with industry to identify viable options to reinstate the service.
RecycleCare will now service the Greater Shepparton Resource Recovery Centres, ensuring the textiles recovered from our region are once again given a new purpose.
“This is a fantastic outcome for Greater Shepparton as we know how well utilised the service previously was,” Council’s Manager Resource Recovery, Liam Moller said.
“Residents will once again be able to drop off their unwanted textiles, not suitable for donating to charity, in the boxes at the Resource Recovery Centres at no cost. The textiles will be collected regularly and sorted for re-use, repair, upcycling or recycling.
“Textile waste contributes 800,000 tonnes per year to landfill, with textiles taking years to break down in landfill. We encourage residents to once again utilise this service to continue improving our region’s recourse recovery targets.”
Council’s nappy and incontinence aid collection service has also seen extremely positive results in this space, with over 160 tonnes of nappies processed during the 2024/2025 financial year. This equates to approximately 1.3 million nappies collected from more than 1,400 properties receiving the weekly service throughout the year.
The success of the collection service has been reflected in the nappy processor proving their new and leading-edge technology that achieves a separation of soft plastic (for plastic agglomerate used in new park furniture) and converting nappy fibre into kitty litter in their demonstration plant. As a result of technology proving, the nappy processor has advised Council that it is now focused on enhancing the processing capabilities at the facility.
Unfortunately, this requires a downscale of the nappy processor’s current operations. This will result in Council being unable to send its bulk volume of nappies for processing at the facility for an interim period. Whilst Council has not been informed of specific timeframes, it is hoped that the diversion opportunity can recommence next year.
Mr Moller said as a result, Council will temporarily have to send the nappies to landfill.
“The weekly nappy and incontinence aid collection service is a highly valued and appreciated service by users. The separation of nappies from the red lid bin greatly improves the available air space within the fortnightly red lid bin collection service for those households’ using nappies or incontinence aids,” he said.
“Despite the temporary change in how nappies and incontinence aids will be disposed of, there is no impact to the weekly collection service for residents.”
Mr Moller said the waste and recycling sector regularly experienced changes in market conditions, technology innovation and maturity which can impact supply chains from time to time.
“In communicating these temporary changes to residents, Council hopes to ensure transparency and trust in the important resource recovery initiatives being undertaken. Council is committed to achieving economical and reliable services for the municipality,” he said.
“We will keep the community informed of any changes to the temporary arrangements.”
To find out more about the waste services available to residents, visit Council’s Waste and Recycling webpage here.
