Under the trial, the current 80-litre rubbish bin will be repurposed as a glass collection bin and households will be given a larger 140-litre rubbish bin which will only be collected fortnightly.

On the alternate week, the FOGO and recycling bins will be collected.

Just where, when and how many houses will be part of the trial is still to be decided. If glass bins are rolled out across the entire city, residents could even see their waste charges drop by $10 to $15.

Director of City Infrastructure Scott Cavanagh said the volume of rubbish going into the 80-litre bins had dropped since FOGO bins were introduced.

"That's obviously reflected in moving to a fortnightly collection," he said.

He said that was part of the reason why the new rubbish bin, while bigger in size, actually cut the volume of rubbish to be collected over a two-week period by 20 litres.

In response to a question from Cr Peter Hulin, Mr Cavanagh said a large part of the trial was to assess how much went into each bin, but they could also look at the frequency of collection at some stage.

He said that if the trial was successful and new bins rolled out, the old bins would be recycled and used to make new ones.

"It's a fantastic outcome," he said.

Cr Hulin questioned whether renewable energy would be used in the recycling process which drew laughter from the crowd at Monday's council meeting.

An audience member then questioned how much glass would be picked up in a week, suggesting it would be little and saying it would be a waste of time.

Cr Sue Cassidy said the trial was the right thing to do given how much of a problem glass contamination was to recycling.

She also suggested communal bins for those with small backyards.

"There is a lot of properties in the city that are small and the thought of having a fourth bin in their backyard is pretty overwhelming," she said.

Cr David Owen said the energy saved from recycling one glass bottle was enough to power a computer for 25 minutes or TV for 20 minutes.

"I was against the trial. I would have liked to have it rolled out regardless. But I can see the importance of a trial," he said.

"We are in a climate emergency and we need to be stepping up to do this."

In reference to Cr Owen's comment about how much energy glass could save, Cr Hulin said that if the council had adopted a communal glass recycling bin years ago it might have been able to run the city on it by now.

"But of course we didn't do that," he said.

Cr Hulin said he would prefer to get rid of the FOGO bin rather than have four bins.

"If we had to get another one, I think this is what we need. We need a glass bin," he said

Both Cr Hulin and Mayor Tony Herbert said they hoped the government would bring in a deposit scheme so the glass bins weren't needed.

"It's been a disappointment from the current government that they have collected a huge amount of money in their landfill levy and have been pretty slow to get off the mark and deliver some options," Cr Herbert said.

The motion on the glass bin trial was passed unanimously.