By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
THIESS Systems has refused to comment after its rubbish trucks were caught ‘double-dipping’ for several weeks in Dandenong North.
Somerset Drive resident Terry Flynn says he and his wife Anne saw and photographed a truck collecting waste from general refuse bins and recycling bins for three consecutive weeks.
Usually, a recycling truck picks up items from recycling bins – which happened two weeks ago after a complaint to Greater Dandenong Council from the Flynns.
But the truck went back to its aberrant ways last Tuesday, and was photographed.
“What makes it worse is that there’s a snoop that checks the bins to make sure there’s no contamination and we would get fined,” Mr Flynn said.
The ‘gotcha’ moment came soon after the council joined a metropolitan Melbourne campaign to ‘Get it right on bin night’, urging people to better sort their recycling waste.
Mayor Youhorn Chea had recently implored people in the council’s newsletter not to put their recyclables in plastic bags nor put contaminants in their recycling bin. “Putting these items in your recycling bin can make it harder to sort and recycle the correct items, as well as damaging the machinery at the recycling plant,” he stated.
Greater Dandenong councillor John Kelly, who sits on Melbourne south-east’s regional waste board, congratulated the Flynns for “taking up the ‘get it right’ cause”. “I think it’s fantastic that they were so observant. The council spends a lot of money getting green waste and recycling right.”
Cr Kelly said the driver was tracked by GPS to Somerset Drive at the time of the complaint.
Greater Dandenong engineering services director Bruce Rendall said the council and Thiess were disappointed with the driver’s action especially on the heels of the awareness campaign.
He said Thiess was taking “appropriate disciplinary action” against the driver. “The council has requested Thiess Services provide … a formal report in relation to this incident and will consider if any further action is warranted once this has been assessed.”
