Sort waste, save money

Published on 27 August 2019

Locals are encouraged to sort their waste and make use of their free vouchers with the new waste fees now in effect at the local waste facility.

Under the new fee structure all ratepayers can use a voucher to allow them to dump five loads of rubbish of up to one tonne for free each year.

After the fifth trip users will be charged for each load of general waste, with loads under one tonne generally attracting a fee of between $5-$15.

Council's Chief Operations Officer, Anthony Misagh, said the new system would encourage recycling, and also allow Council to better align the facility with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Waste Classification Guidelines.

"In the past a lot of people haven't bothered with recycling because it's been free to simply dump endless amounts of rubbish at the tip face," he said.

"It was a pretty outdated way of handling waste, and one that's obviously not very sustainable or good for the environment."

Mr Misagh said he didn't expect the changes would have a significant financial impact on the community.

"Recyclable items generally form the bulk of household waste and can all be dumped completely free if they are sorted and taken to the appropriate areas of the waste facility.

"The vouchers also allow people to dump up to five tonnes of waste for free across five trips.

"If households need to dump more than that amount on an annual basis, then I don't believe it is unreasonable that they make a contribution to the operation of the waste facility via a very small fee."

For a full FAQ on the new waste fees please click here.