The Up 4 Grabs Tent after the household bulky waste drop off

This March’s kerbside clean-up service will be the last, with Council deciding its risks, costs and inefficiency at diverting waste from landfill made a compelling case for change.

Not only are staff are at high risk of injuries due to the repetitive and physical nature of the job, but the trucks currently used are not ideal for the work.

Materials left on the footpath are also a source of danger for the public, as well as being an eyesore especially after scavengers have been.

Another reason in favour of the demise of kerbside clean-ups is that it has been shown they have a significantly lower resource recovery rate than the more recently introduced household bulky waste drop-off events.

The kerbside collection service has been limited to 1sqm, and has not allowed for the collection of any large furniture, e-waste or mattresses.

Council’s household bulky waste event allows for 2sqm of waste, in addition to e-waste and mattresses, and recently won a 2019 Local Government NSW Excellence in the Environment Award, in the community waste services category.

“While the kerbside clean-up is a highly visable service, in reality just over 2,000 properties out of 13,000 actually used the last time it was done,” says Council’s General Manager Kerry McMurray.

However councillors went against staff recommendation to just provide two household bulky waste events a year, by voting to also include one user pays on-call clean-up collection per year.

The user pays system will allow urban households to call for a collection service, at a subsidised rate of $85. Larger bulkier items would not qualify for collection.

Mr McMurray says the new system will not result in any change to the current commitment to link the domestic waste management charge to the level of rate pegging increases for this and the next two years.