The West Australian Local Government Association has scrapped the idea of household glass recycling bins because of the “success” of the state’s Containers for Change scheme.

Several Victorian councils introduced a new household bin with a purple lid for recyclable glass but WALGA has confirmed the purple lid will not be joining WA’s lineup.

In addition to the red general rubbish bin, yellow mixed recycling bin and green food and garden organics bin, a purple glass recycling bin has landed in some Melbourne backyards.

The newly adopted four-bin system will be in full swing over-east by March 2025.

According to Melbourne’s Mitchell Council website, the glass recycling initiative aims to “reduce landfill waste and support recycling”.

WALGA policy manager for waste and recycling Rebecca Brown, said: “No local governments in Western Australia have expressed any interest or intent to introduce a fourth bin for glass.”

A WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulations spokesperson confirmed: “There are currently no plans to introduce a glass-specific bin.”

Curtin University sustainability professor Peter Newman said “the fundamental (solution) is not a fourth bin but a market.”

In WA glass is mostly crushed into a grey powder and used as road base because the nearest glass recycling facility is in South Australia. 

Professor Newman said: “Putting glass in roads is a very poor use and is not real recycling at all.” 

He said that for WA to reap the environmental benefits of household glass recycling bins the government would first need to build a local reprocessing facility.

Containers for Change O’Connor warehouse manager Nick Schwarz said: “It is a much bigger issue than the environment.”

Mr Schwarz firmly believes that “glass recycling bins in households would be a very good idea” despite WA not having a recycling facility in the state. 

WA DWER and WALGA are not pushing glass recycling bins in WA households as a result of WA’s “successful” Containers for Change scheme.

Mrs Brown said the government has intentions to expand the states Containers for Change scheme: “WALGA is advocating for the scheme to expand to include wine and spirit bottles as a minimum, which would increase glass recovery.”

This expansion, while great for the environment, does not address the issues concerning Mr Schwarz: “It is a safety issue for people working at the dump and animals sniffing through rubbish.”

In addition to safety, separating glass from mixed recycling reduces the likelihood of contamination and increases the value of each recycling stream. 

“People don’t care and throw glass into any bin, a glass recycling bin in households would make people think twice,” Mr Schwarz said. 

Planet Ark, one of Australia’s leading non-for-profit environmental organisations, employee Liam Taylor said “even if WA does not have a glass recycling facility, creating a separate collection stream would benefit WA.”

Mr Taylor said it would ensure “larger quantities of paper, cardboard, aluminium, steel and plastic are recycled into higher quality materials.”