CHANGES to bulk rubbish services in the City of Joondalup will come into effect from October.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, councillors approved the changes, which included introducing separate services for bulk green waste and bulk hard waste in a bid to control the rising costs of landfill, and to help meet the landfill diversion target set by the State Government.
The biggest change will be to the bulk hard waste collection, which will now be an on-request service instead of the current pick-up service.
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Residents will be able to organise one service per year per household restricted to three cubic metres and can also organise collection of one mattress and one whitegoods item per year.
Ratepayers will pay for the service either as part of the annual refuse charge or as a fee for the service.
The City’s existing bulk green waste collection service will remain unchanged, with one scheduled service per year per household.
The green waste must be placed on the verge no earlier than 10 days before the Monday of the scheduled collection week.
City officers had recommended the green waste also be restricted to three cubic metres, however Cr John Chester moved a successful alternate motion to have no limit.
He said green waste was 100 per cent recyclable and only cost the City $15.53 per year per household to collect it from verges and process it, meaning it was “cost effective and environmentally desirable”.
“I don’t think there’s any justification for a green waste volume restriction,” he said.
“I think enforcement is going to be a nightmare.
“What do we do if someone leaves four cubic metres, do we leave it behind?
“There will be temptation for the resident to dump it illegally.
“The City of Wanneroo trialled it in 2012-13 and found it was very difficult to manage and enforce and it was unpopular with the residents.”
He said he agreed there should be a restriction on bulk hard waste, which costs the City $155 per tonne with 96 per cent of it going to landfill.
“This is where we can clearly achieve cost savings,” he said.
He said it would also eliminate scavengers and mean hard waste would only be on front verges for a limited time.
Cr Kerry Hollywood said green waste should be restricted in line with the WA Local Government Association’s guidelines.
She said residents could put green waste in their green-lidded household bin, where the contents would be recovered and made in to compost.
Infrastructure services director Nico Claassen said an assessment a couple of years ago found only 22 per cent of people that put out bulk green waste exceeded three cubic metres and not limiting it to this would cost the City approximately an extra $140,000.
He said the City had not yet identified how it would enforce the limit of three cubic metres but there were case studies for the City to draw on and develop a plan.
He said the City would also explore methods for the bulk hard waste collection including verge collection or using a skip bin.
The changes to the service were prompted by a 2014 waste service review that found the City collected more bulk waste per household than any other local government in Australia and more than double the WA average.
In 2014-15, the City spent $2.6 million on bulk hard waste collection and disposal and $945,000 on bulk green waste collection and processing.
Mayor Troy Pickard said community feedback from the City’s recent Bulk Waste Perception Study found most residents wanted the City to do more to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and were concerned about the rising costs.
“An on-request service is the contemporary way to collect bulk waste by providing the services at a time that is convenient to residents and by reducing the visual impact of a whole suburb putting household waste out on the verge at the same time,” he said.
“There is an opportunity to generate both cost savings for ratepayers and to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill.”
The City will continue to hold electronic waste, household hazardous waste and charity clothing collection days and will be introducing larger household recycling bins for families who recycle a lot.