Announced on Monday, the state government's new recycling plan includes separate kerbside glass collection, a container deposit scheme, and a new independent waste authority.

The City of Ballarat already has a separate glass collection policy, Pass on Glass - yellow-top recycling bins cannot accept glass, and while residents can put glass in the landfill bin, there are also specific skip bin collection points around the city where people can dispose of their glass.

Ballarat was chosen because its contracts will be ending in 2020 - the kerbside glass collection, in a purple bin, should begin sometime in 2021.

READ MORE: This is where our glass ends up

In a press conference in Spotswood, Premier Daniel Andrews said there will be more information on the scheme in the coming days.

The container deposit scheme should be rolled out by 2023, after consultation with local government and industry, and neither the premier nor Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio were willing to speculate on what it could look like.

Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery executive officer La Vergne Lehmann said Ballarat was "ahead of the curve" on glass separation.

READ MORE: Where will our glass go?

"Glass, as we know in Ballarat and other councils, has been problematic for some time," she said - glass, particularly when broken, contaminates other co-mingled recyclable material.

"This does not mean every household will end up with four bins, it could be two or three bins with collection points, it depends on what will work for a particular council," she added.

"We've got a community that's already got this idea of removing glass embedded in their psyche."

She cautioned a lot of work would need to be completed, to ensure a viable market for the collected glass - right now, material from Pass on Glass sites is either sorted by colour or crushed into sand at warehouses in Wendouree.

City of Ballarat mayor Ben Taylor said it was too early to tell if the fourth bin idea was "a good one or not", or whether it would cost ratepayers, but council had been calling for a container deposit scheme for years.

"Ballarat's taken the initiative and led the market," he said.

"By having Pass on Glass (skip bins) in central locations - with a container deposit scheme, we can easily transfer into that quite quickly and simply."

There will also be news about contracts for collected glass within six months, he said.

According to the state government, the $129 million scheme, paid for by the state's sustainability fund, will push 80 per cent of waste out of landfill by 2030.

In some local government areas, a green lid bin for food and organic waste is already being used, though Ms D'Ambrosio said for many councils extra infrastructure would be needed.

The state opposition supports a container deposit plan, and announced a plan to remove landfill waste through waste to energy projects by 2035, if elected.

Ms Lehmann said it was important to be patient with schemes of this type.

"Don't jump to conclusions - it's not necessarily four bins, I'm referring to it as four services," she said.

"A Ballarat-style scheme is a better option in some communities - each council will have to work it out, and there'll be a lot of community engagement.

"The government's put quite a bit of money into making this work but everyone's going to have to be involved - there is going to be some cost, but it will end up with a better system that is more viable than what we've currently got.

"When your council is out there consulting, go out there and ask questions.

"You have to be reasonable about things - you might not get your way, but it allows council or whoever's consulting the opportunity to consider another viewpoint, and might be able to make a better decision.

"Be positive, not negative."

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