Kerbside clean-up misuse could see service reviewed

Misuse of Council’s kerbside bulk-rubbish collection could see changes to the way the service is delivered.

Council staff will review the service after the current collection period and make recommendations to Council.

“Unfortunately, the service is being abused, with people using it as an excuse to dump massive quantities of rubbish on street corners and outside other people’s homes – in fact, wherever they like,” Council’s Waste Manager Wayne Schafer said.

“Much of the material is not even accepted as part of the kerbside collection, such as tyres, mattresses, chemicals and even broken glass.

“On the fringes of the Shire we are also finding extremely large piles of waste appearing, potentially from residents of neighbouring shires who don’t enjoy a kerbside collection service.

“We have to revisit many of these locations to remove the piles of waste at considerable cost, which is not fair to ratepayers who do the right thing.

“At any other time of the year, this type and volume of waste being dumped on public land would attract fines.”

Council sent residents an information flyer with each suburb’s collection date plus information about the types and volume of rubbish Council contractors would accept.

“Some people have ignored this information. Even some residents who are sorting their waste correctly and placing it out the front of their homes, are doing so four weeks early, which means that it becomes an eyesore.”

Mr Schafer said the many problems associated with the current kerbside collection had prompted complaints from residents calling for Council to end the service.

“Metal items for recycling need to be in one pile, with a second pile for repairable household items and a third pile for all other rubbish,” Mr Schafer said.

For information about items accepted in the kerbside bulk-rubbish collection, and collection dates, visit Council's website.

Mr Schafer said many of the items dumped, such as whitegoods and e-waste, can be recycled for free at Council’s Resource Recovery Centre all year round.

17 August 2018