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Kalamunda council considers lower rates for smaller bins

Sarah BrookesMidland Kalamunda Reporter

THE City of Kalamunda is considering offering ratepayers the option of using a smaller rubbish bin in exchange for a lower rates bill.

The program would help residents reduce their household waste, and the cost to their hip pocket, as well as deal with spiralling waste disposal charges.

City chief executive Rhonda Hardy said the council spent $3 million annually to dispose of 19,000 tonnes of household waste collected from the general waste bin.

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“In addition the City spends around $110,000 in processing costs for 5500 tonnes of household waste collected from the yellow recycling bin,” she said.

Ms Hardy said council would consider the matter as part of its current waste strategy review.

The Shire of Mundaring made the move in 1995 to a 140L bin to encourage residents to recycle.

Chief executive Jonathan Throssell said reducing bin sizes further would pose difficulties for collection.

“The Shire was one of the first local governments in the Perth metropolitan area to introduce a bin this size as most others, including Swan and Kalamunda, introduced a 240Litre bin,” he said.

“Currently the Shire does not have the ability to implement a weighted system whereby residents are charged according to the amount of waste they generate.”

City of Swan chief executive Mike Foley encouraged community members passionate about the issue to join the newly formed Waste Advisory Group.

“The City’s standard household waste bin size is 240L, which ensures residents have enough space to avoid contaminating their recycling bins with any overflow waste,” he said.

“This is particularly important at peak times for waste such as Christmas.”

Mr Foley said last financial year more than 40,000 tonnes of waste from weekly household green lid bins was processed at a cost of more than $7 million.

A Department of Water and Environmental Regulation spokeswoman said the State Government’s $20 million Better Bins program rewarded local governments that provide more bin capacity for recycling and less capacity for general waste.

“Local governments that provide 140 litres or less of general waste capacity per week qualify for an extra $6 per household in funding over those local governments that offer the standard 240 litres of general waste capacity per week,” she said.