IT was the only budget measure to attract more than a handful of submissions in recent years and ratepayers are again voting with their feet on rubbish.
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After free kerbside collections ended in November last year, more than 1000 people took about 250 tonnes of mixed waste to Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre across two free drop-off days during the year.
It proves there is demand for the service, but those feeling vindicated are only partially justified.
Cost was not the other factor in the cutting of the service, but the toll it took on the streetscape.
Confusion over when residents thought they had to put their waste on the kerb and delays in the collection meant there was rubbish for weeks on end – not a great look for a place that won the equivalent of the statewide Tidy Town award last year.
Costing a voucher system seems to be a good compromise.
By leaving the timing of the disposal to the ratepayer, it avoids the rush staff experienced across those two days, people can still take items that can’t fit in their bins to the resource recovery centre for free and it gives people no excuse to dump rubbish illegally.
After all, if people can get their rubbish into a trailer to dump it in Kinross State Forest, they can get it to the tip.
The only problem lies for those who do not have access to a trailer or ute.
The user-pays collection system is available, but at $206, it might well be out of reach for the elderly and the disadvantaged and a solution needs to be found for people facing those circumstances.
The other finding to come out of the collection was the number of people who were not aware of the range of waste accepted at the resource recovery centre free of charge all the time, provided they’re sorted.
The list includes all household recyclables, kitchen and garden waste, electronic e-waste such as household electrical and computer equipment, scrap steel including most white goods, car bodies, corrugated iron and fencing wire, batteries, oils, gas cylinders, household hazardous waste including smoke detectors, fluorescent light tubes and other light globes and salvaged furniture, bikes, books and building materials suitable for re-sale at the recovery shop.
Considering the only charged-for waste is basically what would ordinarily go in the red bin, avoiding illegal dumping should be a simple task.
