We're asking you to stop putting glass in your yellow recycling bin from Monday. This move will help us prevent recycling material going to landfill because it has been contaminated by glass breaking in the recycling bin. We're responding to strong demand from the recycling industry for cleaner, glass-free materials. The new no glass rule will mean we can avoid the problem of glass breaking and contaminating everything in the recycling bin.

Instead, the glass-free paper, plastics, carboard and cans you put in your yellow bin become more valuable and can all be recycled into new products by Victorian businesses.

This is our response to the nationwide recycling crisis - we're taking positive action to find a local solution. Some other Victorian councils have also decided to remove glass from the recycling stream - while others send all their recyclables to landfill.

I'm pleased to report that after the collapse of its recycling contractor, SKM, our council reacted quickly - instead of sending our residential recyclables to landfill we set up a local sorting facility. It was a great short-term solution, but too costly to run in the longer term.

We'd encourage you to continue to recycle your glass - but from Monday you should take it to one of the free community glass drop-off sites located around Ballarat rather than putting it in your yellow recycling bin.

If you have an elderly neighbour or a friend who doesn't drive, you could offer to take their glass to the drop-off site when you take your own. If dropping your glass off is not an option for you, you can put your glass in your rubbish bin and it will be sent to landfill.

The glass that you take to one of council's free glass drop off points will be put to good use. We'll work with local companies to look for new uses for recycled glass. We'll also seek out government research and development funding to support local initiatives.

This new approach will be in place until we have further clarification from the Victorian Government on a state-wide approach to recycling, which may be part of its Circular Economy and Action Plan due for release later this year.

Council has entered into a new contract with Australian Paper Recovery which has good local markets for the processing, reuse and value-adding of paper, cardboard, good quality plastics and cans, however it doesn't have a market for glass. Our aim is to keep glass out of landfill. Council is working to find an alternative glass processor who will process our recycled glass into new bottles for industry. We are exploring local options to use glass in construction material.

We encourage people to purchase products with greater recycled content or to "pass on glass". This means you consciously stop buying products in glass containers, reuse your glass or pass it on to people who will - or pass it on to council at one of our community glass drop-off points.

What else is council doing to address the recycling problem? We're working to ensure that wherever possible new goods or materials council buys have recycled content, we're working with local businesses and manufacturers to help identify how they can include recycled content in their products, and we're developing a business case for a regional materials recovery facility in Ballarat to collect and separate out products.

What else can you do? You can take your glass recyclables to a local community drop off site and encourage others to do the same. And you can make sure you follow our advice on what can go in your yellow bin so we can maximise the recovery and re-processing of your recyclables. We should all consider our buying habits - avoid plastic packaging to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill - and look for innovative ways to re-use glass.

You can also make your voice heard on the issue of recycling, so governments realise voters want them to invest in long-term solutions for recycling - including an all-waste interchange facility in Ballarat.

This will be the biggest change to recycling in Ballarat in many years - we need everyone's help to make the new system work. As a community, and as individuals, we need to embrace this new approach to recycling. All your recycling questions can be answered at recyclingballarat.com