ORANGE councillors have put a lid on the prospect of fortnightly red bin collections, voting unanimously to keep them weekly on Tuesday night.
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Councillors voted to proceed with a 10-year waste management contract with JR Richards and Sons worth $23 million.
Keeping the red bin collections weekly and contributing to education programs will cost ratepayers an extra $20.39 a year.
A report to councillors found about 70 per cent of Orange residents could manage with having their red bin collected fortnightly without major changes.
But it also found the estimated 1348 households with five people or more, particularly those with young children in nappies, threw out an average of 180 litres a week and a 240-litre bin would not last the fortnight.
On Wednesday mayor John Davis welcomed the continued weekly collection and said the $80,000 worth of investigations had been worth it.
“For example, 60 per cent of people basically put bins out that were not half full, however, on the flip side, where I thought, and I think a lot of other councillors thought, there might be a small number of people in the community with young children that wouldn’t support a two-weekly pick-up, I thought that would be in the hundreds - in fact it was closer to 2000,” he said.
Cr Davis thanked fortnightly collection opponents councillors Jeff Whitton, Glenn Taylor and Kevin Duffy for putting concerns forward and Cr Whitton said while a fortnightly collection made economic sense, the argument had not swayed the community.
“It’s a win-win situation for the community and council - I think one of the things any politician needs to remember when they’re making changes is that we’re always going to have an issue with taking away services the community already has,” he said.
However, the council will need to spend $30,000 a year on education programs to achieve a 70 per cent diversion rate from landfill by 2021 and could revisit fortnightly collections if the state government requires the council to reach the target.
A state government-imposed waste levy could also be introduced, with the potential to add up to $200 to the annual household waste bill.
A provision will be added to the JR Richards contract, allowing the council to renegotiate if needed.
Once the contract comes into effect in April, residents will receive new bins but they will have the option to keep their old ones in case they need additional collections - tickets will be available from the council for $1.95 each.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au
