One million Victorian households across 46 councils will have four new bins next year as the Andrews government undertakes the "biggest recycling overhaul" in the state's history.

The state government announced two new policies - a four-bin system and a container deposit scheme - on Monday as part of its plan to reduce waste going to landfill by 80 per cent over the next decade.

Reduce, recycle, re-puce: The new purple-top bin will be for glass recycling. Credit:Jason South

Victorian households will have four separate bins. The new purple-top bin will be for glass recycling. The red-lid bin will be for general household waste; yellow for plastic, metal and paper; and green for food and garden organics.

Broken glass is among the biggest contaminants in the recycling stream, according to a report by Infrastructure Victoria, and food waste makes up 35 per cent of the rubbish sent to the tip.