Council talks rubbish

By Nathan Johnston
GREATER Dandenong’s hard waste collection was completed more than a month ago, but some residents are still leaving rubbish on the nature strip, according to Cr David Kelly.
He said the council needed to educate the community about the hard waste collection to ensure people understood their rights throughout the year and during collection periods.
The council is looking at new ways to deliver the service after this year’s collection, which took more than two months to complete.
The collection resulted in the sacking of the council’s hard waste collection contractor and hundreds of complaints from the community, after streets were left filled with rubbish for weeks.
Cr Kelly said a lack of education in the community about the service was partly to blame, along with greed from some residents, who dumped more than their share.
“Some people absolutely abused it, but education is a real problem,” he said.
“We live in such a diverse community and have to deal with a shifting population. This has to contribute to the ongoing problems.
“There’s rubbish back on the nature strips now. Can people ring up to get it off? Who foots the bill and how do we stop it?”
The council’s director of engineering services, Tim Tamlin, said that council officers contacted residents who left hard rubbish on the nature strip, and that many didn’t realise they were doing the wrong thing.
“Some people were not aware that they could not put it on the nature strip throughout the year, and they’re happy to take it back,” he said.
“We try to work with the community as much as we can.”
He said the council was about to ask the community about methods of collecting hard waste in 2006.
“We’ve already had some good community feedback, and we’ll no doubt receive more when we open the process to the community.”
Some of the options include:
•A biannual or monthly atcall service;
•A voucher system to provide free dumps at tips;
•A yearly kerbside collection, similar to the existing service;
•A subsidised atcall skip collection service.
Cr Paul Donovan said the range of options proved that the council was aware of the problems and wanted to improve the service.
“There was a perception that it was a shambles and in some ways, that was true, but this resolution shows that the council is trying to find new ways to ensure this important service runs smoothly,” he said.