1. Recycling and Community Engagement on Ascot Vale Housing Estate

2. Ascot Vale Housing Estate Project Sponsors

3. Ascot Vale Housing Estate
839 dwellings
Low rise housing
Walk-up (no lifts)
Mixed community
To give you an overview of the estate, Ascot Vale Housing Estate is between 7 and 8kms North West of the Melbourne CBD. It consists of 839 dwellings which are within blocks of low-rise buildings (a typical block can be seen in the background of the photo). The dwellings above ground level are accessed by stairs. The community is diverse and contains many migrants to Australia and many who do not speak English as their first language, or who have very limited English language skills.

4. Ascot Vale Housing Estate
Ascot Vale Housing Estate demonstrates the well documented challenges associated with offering recycling services to housing estates
Limited or no English language skills
May not previously have had waste or recycling services or infrastructure
Diversity of cultures (some of which may have greater or lesser propensity to recycle)
Diversity of languages and dialects
Limited space inside flats for recycling bins/containers

5. Ascot Vale Housing Estate
Other challenges faced when planning housing estate recycling include logistics and infrastructure issues due to the layout of the estate
Bin placement
Space for additional bins
Collection vehicle access
Ensuring bins remain in place once installed
The types of logistic and infrastructure challenges to be taken into account include finding suitable areas to place an increased number of bins, ensuring the collection vehicles can maneuver around the streets of the estate safely (which may not always be the case, some domestic recycling vehicles may be too long and have too large a turning circle to enable them to be used for estates-based collections).
Placing the bins in areas that are convenient for residents to use is essential but can be challenging if no space is available. Ascot Vale Housing Estate is a good starting point for estates recycling as it has plenty of green spaces in and around each block, enabling the waste bin areas to be expanded to include extra bins for recycling. Looking at the estate from aerial photos we can see there is no uniform design that has been applied, therefore an individual assessment and recommendation must be carried out for each block.

6. Ascot Vale Housing Estate
Trial held in 2009 showed encouraging results
Full rollout planned and funding applied for in 2011
Bin and bin stand infrastructure installation completed Dec 2012
Doorknocking completed Dec 2012
Final report Feb 2014

7. Ascot Vale Housing Estate
Results so far:
Audits carried out fortnightly to determine contamination and identify any specific contamination issues
Contamination is extremely low
Volumes are high
Opportunity to assess provision of waste bins and adjust if possible
Other social and community benefits are being observed and documented that were not part of the original project plan outcomes
Soft plastics and plastic bags remain the only recurrent contamination issues