A Ballarat family say they will "embrace the challenge" brought on by changes to Ballarat's waste collection schedule, after councillors voted in favour of a drastic overhaul.
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Recycling collection will remain on a fortnightly basis while a new glass bin will also be introduced, to be collected monthly.
Gabrielle and Dylan Glenane, who live in Wendouree, have two young children, Tom, 2, and Ana-Reta, 1. Ms Glenane said nappies make up half of their weekly general waste.
"If you spread that out across two weeks, that's 100 per cent capacity being taken up by nappies," she said.
"That leaves us with zero space for general waste."
![Gabrielle Glenane with her daughter Ana-Reta, 1, welcome more sustainable actions but changes are needed to cope with the waste bin collection cut down. Picture by Lachlan Bence Gabrielle Glenane with her daughter Ana-Reta, 1, welcome more sustainable actions but changes are needed to cope with the waste bin collection cut down. Picture by Lachlan Bence](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/116320384/39faa997-f2a4-4b23-9eae-a236878780d4.jpg/r0_196_5183_3122_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But despite the potential problems, Ms Glenane said her family was going to "embrace the challenge".
"We want to take as many opportunities as we can to reduce our waste and look at other sustainable ways of doing things and reducing packaging," she said.
The Glenane family is already good at reducing waste and Ms Glenane said food makes up 15 to 20 per cent, so the food and organics bin will be a welcome addition.
"It's going to be tough," she said.
"We're going to have to look at being pretty mindful of everything we buy in terms of packaging.
"With kids as well, toys and food have so much packaging associated with it so we're going to have to try and cut down there even further."
The family already uses local initiatives such as buying food in bulk and using a toy library, but Ms Glenane said they might even need to expedite toilet training for their eldest child.
"An option is trying to change that schedule - Tom is a bit older but for Ana-Reta that's not an option," she said.
"The child needs to be ready and you can't force something that's not quite ready to happen. But we can try and encourage."
Alternative options include reusable nappies - which the council has a rebate for - but time for extra washing may not be viable for all families.
While a second general waste bin is an option for some residents, at a $120 annual cost, Ms Glenane said her family will try to make the new schedule work.
"We are huge advocates for sustainability and positive environmental change, so we'll do everything we can to try and comply with it, even though it's not what we would have preferred," she said.
While Ms Glenane said she welcomed stronger actions for waste reduction she has concerns over the "undesirable" smell from having nappies stuck in bins for two weeks and people looking at "alternatives" to dump their excess rubbish.
"Other families who have a huge amount of waste are potentially going to look to other sources to offload that," she said.
![Ballarat councillor Ben Taylor. Picture file Ballarat councillor Ben Taylor. Picture file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/116320384/99102bad-5152-416c-857c-f78280117a2b.JPG/r0_0_4928_3280_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Councillor Ben Taylor voted against the decision because he felt it should have been a more staggered introduction.
"There's a sector of the community who did struggle with the option to go fortnightly pickup and that's why I thought there could have been more of a stage transition to it," he said.
"Implementing a weekly rubbish then a fortnightly FOGO and do that for one to two years, manage that so people are aware of what those opportunities are. Then transition to a fortnightly rubbish and then back to a weekly FOGO.
"We could have brought the community with us on a journey and not just doing it quickly."
Cr Taylor said there would be people in the community who will struggle, especially families with a large amount of waste.
"That's going to be the biggest challenge," he said.
"It is a whole community role that we need to play in how we deal with our waste and it is going to be challenging, it is a cultural change that may take even a generation of people to look at different ways of how we manage it [waste]."
Cr Taylor said the extra bin cost will be a hit to some people.
"It's unfair ... when change is forced on people and the cost then has to be carried by the household, I think it's unfair," he said.
"Especially when they've had that weekly pickup for so long, especially in disadvantaged areas ... I think it's unfair that we we add another cost to people."
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