Environment

In 2024/2025, the City of Melton collected a total of 66,480 tonnes of kerbside waste. This comprised 40,686 tonnes of garbage and 25,794 tonnes diverted from landfill (including 14,146 tonnes of recycling and 11,648 tonnes of food organics and garden organics).

We are home to Victoria’s largest landfill, the Melbourne Regional Landfill in Ravenhall, which processes the majority of Melbourne’s waste, filling an area equivalent to the size of the MCG every 12 months. Recycling Victoria has set a target to reduce waste by 80 per cent by 2030, with an interim target of 72 per cent by 2025. With the Melton Recycling Centre now established, we aim to take the next step by developing a Circular Economy Hub to support emerging industries such as e-waste processing, repair services, and other circular economy initiatives that build on our existing success.

We need to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and do this quickly. Council seeks support from the Victorian Government by funding the Waste to Energy facility at Laverton as a strategic metropolitan solution and to expand the Melton Recycling Facility (MRF) into a regional-scale reprocessing and innovation hub supporting Victoria’s circular economy transition. 

We recognise the health and wellbeing benefits of green open space and are committed to protecting and enhancing our beautiful natural environment. The City of Melton has the lowest tree canopy in metropolitan Melbourne at only 4.1 per cent compared with the average of 16.2 per cent. There is an urgent need to plant more trees to increase our tree canopy.

Trees serve as natural air purifiers, filtering out harmful pollutants from the air, creating a cleaner, fresher atmosphere.

Research has shown that neighbourhoods with good tree cover experience lower rates of respiratory issues and allergies.

Tree canopy has been found to have the strongest impact in reducing heat in urban areas. Reducing heat in our neighbourhoods is critical, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, people over 65 years of age and those with pre-existing medical conditions.

In Victoria, during the heatwave of 2019 there was a five-fold increase in health-related public hospital emergency department presentations, with heat killing more Australians than any other natural disaster.

The Victorian Government has already invested in Greening the West, planting 46,000 trees locally. We seek continued investment by the Victorian Government to help council meet its goal to plant 100,000 trees over the next three years and increase our tree canopy cover to 30 per cent by 2050, the recommended level for a healthy environment. 

We are committed to our role in a whole-of-community partnership to respond to climate change. Melton City Council has adopted a net-zero emissions target by 2040 for Council operations. Actions to achieve this target are identified in Council’s Environment Plan 2017–2027.

These include:

• bulk solar and battery programs for low-income households and community facilities
• support for zero-carbon precinct pilots (for example Cobblebank, Toolern MAC)
• incentives for electrification of homes and businesses in new growth areas.

Melton Council’s Integrated Water Management (IWM) Implementation Plan outlines the recommended projects such as stormwater harvesting, wetlands, and water-sensitive urban design retrofits across growth areas.

We seek funding support to implement these recommendations.

Council calls for the Victorian Government to reinvest the increased landfill levy into:

• new technology, behaviour change and education
• combatting illegally dumped rubbish
• council-led waste and resource recovery infrastructure
• local education and behaviour change programs
• illegal dumping enforcement and clean-up
• circular economy innovation pilots and trials.