GREEN MESS: Residents in National Avenue regularly clean up the leaves that drop on the verge outside their homes. Photo: JUDE KEOGH 0320nationalave1
NATIONAL Avenue resident Marisa French says it is not fair that she has been left out of pocket simply because she is proud of her streetscape.
Mrs French resents being charged twice for her green waste collection, as much of the waste in her bin comes from the large oak trees that grow on Orange City Council-owned land outside her house.
Mrs French said she regularly payed for a book of green waste tickets to cover the collection of her bin, on top of the council’s compulsory green organic waste collection fee of $80.
While council plans to abolish the ticket system in June and will have its green bin collection system in place by July, residents have been paying for the green bin collection since the middle of last year.
“I’d really like council to tell me where the money goes, exactly what it’s going to,” Mrs French said.
“It feels like we’re getting double charged.”
Mrs French says she is like a lot of other Orange residents who are proud of the city and happy to clean up the area outside their houses to ensure it looks good.
“There are people that like things to look nice, and there’s others who couldn’t care less,” she said.
“I like things to look neat so I sweep up the front, the leaves even come up my driveway and I clean them up.”
Orange City Council spokesman Allan Reeder said while there were some problems associated with phasing in the changes to the green waste system, all issues would be resolved when the new system was introduced in July.
Mr Reeder said the council thanked residents such as Mrs French who kept the city looking good, however, there was no way they could offer people free or discounted green waste collection, even if the majority of their waste came from trees on council land.
“We welcome residents that help with the overall look of their street but practically we can’t make a distinction between the waste that comes from the street and their yard,” he said.
Mr Reeder said residents were being asked to pay the $80 green waste levy before they could access the service to cover the costs associated with the new infrastructure required to operate it.
tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au
