Town Hall is considering introducing specialised bins for dangerous \u201cnangs\u201d littering Melbourne\u2019s CBD. <\/p>\n
Thousands of large nitrous oxide canisters have cluttered streets and overfilled skip bins across the city after being thrown away by revellers who use the cooking implement to get a cheap but hazardous high. <\/p>\n
It comes after the City of Melbourne last year recovered nearly 50,000 of the canisters, which are an explosion risk that have been linked to a quadrupling of hospitalisations in five years.<\/p>\n
A City of Melbourne response to a submission on the council\u2019s 2026-27 draft budget shows the council is considering introducing dedicated \u201cnang\u201d bins to create a safer way to dispose of the nitrous oxide canisters.<\/p>\n
City of Melbourne lord mayor Nick Reece said finding a solution to the dangerous littering of canisters was important.<\/p>\n
\u201cDumping nitrous oxide canisters in bins is extremely dangerous, and it\u2019s not on. But we need a better way to dispose of them safely and easily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working with state government, businesses and other councils on practical solutions to stop this behaviour across Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n
A report from a council officer, published along with draft budget submissions, said the council was considering a trial on certain high-rise buildings. <\/p>\n
\u201cSimilar to the e-waste collection bins, the city would provide nang bins, and the (facility managers) would call when each bin is full so they can be replaced\/emptied,\u201d the officer wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trial will be limited to a small number of buildings, so it can operate until a long-term solution is implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would also provide data to support long-term planning and can be modified to align with long-term solutions, serving as a trial for long-term implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chair of a high-rise residential building in Melbourne\u2019s CBD wrote expressing his frustration with the negative impacts the canisters are having on the streetscape and the health of Melburnians, urging for nang canister disposal bins to be considered as a short-term solution.<\/p>\n
City streets and residential building\u2019s skip bins, meant for residents\u2019 use, are overflowing with the large nang canisters, with clean-up costs becoming a \u201cburden\u201d for residents and large owners corporations around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany large apartment complexes have been suffering from the misuse and abuse of nitrous oxide products in our communities,\u201d the chair said in a letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth financially, and the negative impacts such behaviour places on the residents living in these spaces. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost of removal is prohibitive. Large owners corporations around the city are spending hundreds of thousands to dispose of these canisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
In South Australia, canisters can be taken to waste and recycling centres for free disposal of both empty and non-empty canisters.<\/p>\n
While the chair sees a collection program as a good start to addressing the dumped canisters, he is asking for a proactive approach to stopping the distribution and use of nitrous oxide outside of its intended purposes.<\/p>\n
Aside from the concern of cost, improper disposal could lead to explosions, posing a real safety risk in the CBD.<\/p>\n
Data from Monash University\u2019s Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit reveals a quadrupling of hospitalisations from nitrous oxide in Victoria between 2019 and 2024, mirroring overseas increases in illicit abuse of the gas.<\/p>\n
Data from the Coroners Court of Victoria also revealed there were four nitrous-oxide linked deaths last year, and 14 since 2020.<\/p>\n
As revealed last month by the Herald Sun, major hospitality industry supplier Commerce Enterprises last year imported around 150 shipping containers of the potent gas including popular product \u2018Miami Magic\u2019.<\/p>\n
One of Commerce Enterprises largest retailers, online delivery service Nang Wizard, guarantees sub 60-minute delivery to Melburnian\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n
A Victorian Government spokesperson said using nitrous oxide could lead to \u201cserious harm, including irreversible nerve damage \u2014 particularly when used frequently or in large quantities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to explore options to reduce harm associated with nitrous oxide misuse,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Town Hall is considering introducing specialised bins for dangerous \u201cnangs\u201d littering Melbourne\u2019s CBD. Thousands of large nitrous oxide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13551,13555,23,133,13539,13535,13545,13543,13557,950,13542,13558,13560,13550,13548,13546,13538,13536,13549,13559,260,13547,13552,908,3563,13553,13562,13541,13540,13537,120,13561,13544,13556,11171,10738,121,13554,68,2548],"class_list":["post-12925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-abusenitrous-oxide-gas","tag-apartment-complexes","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-behaviour-places","tag-canister-disposal","tag-city-streets","tag-collection-program","tag-council-officer","tag-david-caird","tag-draft-budget","tag-draft-budget-submissions","tag-e-waste-collection-bins","tag-explosion-risk","tag-facility-managers","tag-health-authorities","tag-high-rise-buildings","tag-hospitality-industry-supplier","tag-irreversible-nerve-damage","tag-lord-mayor","tag-melbourne","tag-monash-university","tag-negative-impacts","tag-nick-reece","tag-nitrous-oxide","tag-nitrous-oxide-canisters","tag-nitrous-oxide-misuse","tag-nitrous-oxide-outside","tag-nitrous-oxide-products","tag-non-empty-canisters","tag-oceania","tag-online-delivery-service","tag-owners-corporations","tag-radical-solution","tag-residential-building","tag-shipping-containers","tag-south-australia","tag-special-bins","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}