Fortnightly collection to stay

by Courtney O'Brien
A fierce debate in council chambers last week led to waste services remaining as they currently are, despite Baw Baw Shire receiving the largest petition ever on an issue.
It was a close call, with four councillors voting to return general waste collection to weekly and five councillors voting for it to remain fortnightly with weekly pick up for green waste.
Cr Danny Goss supported the petitioners and community members' pleas for weekly general waste collection, going against the officer's recommendation to remain fortnightly.

"The new system of waste collection has had an adverse effect on hundreds, probably thousands of people," he said.

"I've always believed it's my role to represent the ratepayers and not to lecture them, not to engineer their way of life, or to change their daily habits.
"And I am persuaded by my belief that waste collection is a fundamental and basic duty of local councils."
At Wednesday's meeting, community members spoke primarily about being disadvantaged by the frequency of fortnightly collections, rather than capacity.
"This is about the frequency. It's about the families that have nappies, it's about the families that have medical issues and all sorts of other bio-medical waste that needs to be disposed of. It is about the health and safety, the basic right in a civilised first world country," Cr Goss said.
He said reports about waste services and costs were deficient, making it difficult for councillors to make informed decisions.
Cost estimates presented to council to revert to a weekly collection were about $1 million dollars a year or $48 per household.
"I've no doubt that most people would be willing to pay less than a dollar a week for a weekly pick-up," Cr Goss said.
Cr Ben Lucas, Cr Brendan Kingwill, and Cr Jess Hamilton all supported Cr Goss' alternate motion.
Cr Lucas stated both the volume and frequency of Baw Baw's current waste services were problematic.
"We had the 240 litre bins; we then reduced it by half to 120 litres and now we're going to halve it again. The stats and reports say that 43 per cent of waste can be diverted to FOGO, I absolutely refute that."
Cr Lucas said overflowing bins with rubbish being pecked at by birds, which then gets blown into streets, parks and recreational areas was becoming an issue.

"Since this has come in, there is now rubbish all over the streets. It wasn't there before," he said.

After reviewing the reports, Cr Kingwill said councillors had to seriously question if fortnightly collection was right for Baw Baw.
"I do not support making waste collection unnecessarily difficult for our residents," he said.
"If we are asking residents to pay more, we must ensure the services are practical, efficient and provide value for money."
Cr Kingwill said only 33 out of the state's 79 councils had switched to fortnightly waste collection and it was not a one size model fits all situation.
"Yarra Ranges are experiencing the same situation as us. Hobson Bay back flipped and went back to fortnightly FOGO (and weekly general waste) and other councils have reported massive amounts of costs due to contamination.
"We need to ask whether we are creating additional work to manage a problem that could be fixed by doing weekly pick-ups."
He said reports failed to detail if there was an increase of rubbish going to the tip and dumping of rubbish illegally.
"Council should not expect residents to fit their lives around a system that is not working. We are here to provide services that work for our community."
Cr Hamilton said she heard from people who were managing well and who would be disappointed at having to subsidise the rest of the community who could buy an additional red bin for $100.
"The one thing that I cannot get away from is when Cr Goss said it's not our job to force other people's daily habits. I cannot for the life of my get my head around going against that notion. When COVID happened, certain people were forced to do things that they did not want to do. I do not want to be a person sitting in this chair today saying or forcing other people in my community to something that they truly feel that they cannot do," she said.
Cr Hamilton implored the community not to be divided over the issue and rather push back against manufacturers.
"The real problem is... the big corporations. It's the people who are making the products. Buy, buy, buy. It lasts two seconds and then you're throwing it in the bin."
"Why is everything wrapped in plastic?"

Support for fortnightly
Cr Adam Sheehan, Cr Tricia Jones, Cr Suzanne Allen and Mayor Kate Wilson spoke against Cr Goss' alternate motion.
Cr Sheehan stated while he didn't disagree with the alternate motion, the ever-increasing cost applied by the State Government to council and then ratepayers, was a concern.
"To do this rubbish thing we have to do it properly and it's not being done properly, not by the State Government initiatives and this for me is a platform to push back on State Government. It's not a push back against the people, it's a push back against the State Government," he said.
"The costs that are incurred are going to come from the EPA and they're going to come from private stations where we need to ship the rubbish off. We don't have a landfill here in Baw Baw Shire. We've got to take it to Hallam and then later on we're going to Truganina. Someone's got to pay for the fuel up and down the highway for our trucks to go."
"People can't afford to live... We're here to fight to keep the costs down."
Cr Jones said the cost of reversing the decision alongside high waste levies was a factor in her decision, and diverting waste from red bins would save ratepayers about $1 to $1.5 million annually.

"Reversing or modifying the collection frequency or any other provision would breach the long-term waste processing agreement. It would also trigger severe financial penalties that we as residents and business owners will ultimately have to pay for."

"The waste charge which flows onto households and businesses has increased by 51 per cent," she said.
Cr Allen said there wasn't one single problem, and a range of solutions could address some of the community's issues, including education, information and the special consideration program, and addressed the issue of odour, specifically from soiled nappies.
"In working through this decision I've tried to separate the question of odour from the question of public health. The evidence available to me has not demonstrated that fortnightly general waste collection itself creates an increase in public health risk," she said.
"The evidence we've reviewed around nappies also indicates that odour develops within the first few days rather than simply continuing to worsen throughout the second week. That doesn't make the smell pleasant, but we need to be careful not to describe an amenity problem as a demonstrated public health problem, when the evidence doesn't establish that."
Mayor Kate Wilson said every person she had spoken to was supportive of fortnightly collections to help deal with the waste crisis and increasing costs due to landfill levies, and ultimately, it was a wicked problem to solve.
"We've obviously all laboured through the many facets of a really difficult decision, but our responsibility as councillors is to consider what community is telling us, weigh that against the evidence, the cost and the long-term public interest and then make the decision that we each believe is right," she said, adding waste diversion was the key to the problem.
"The evidence is also clear, if you don't change the frequency, diversion isn't achieved, it's as simple as that."
"Cheap election promises to return the bin to weekly actually make me more compelled to keep our fortnightly frequency as it is for now, because if someone else is going to come along and force a change perhaps they'll pay for it. Why would we spend all of this money and time using council's resources to make a change that may be made inevitably," questioned Cr Wilson.
Cr Paul Pratt said he was sitting on the fence on the issue but voted against Cr Goss' motion.
"Theres not an outcome that I genuinely like either way," he said.
"We need to distinguish between what our community wants, what it needs and what it can reasonably afford.
"Should a household that rarely fills its red bin contribute to a weekly service, primarily because other households require or want more capacity?
"But equally that is partly how government works isn't it, we all contribute to services we may never personally use."
After Cr Goss's alternate motion was voted down four to five, the original motion was debated and carried five votes to four, for waste services to remain fortnightly.
Cr Goss said he was disappointed with the result and the impact it would have on local families.
"How can we honestly have a job like this and have a vote like this and listen to what we've heard tonight and listen to what's been emailed to us and just ignore it? I simply can't do it. I'm here to represent people. I listen to them and I take them seriously, and I am really disappointed that the votes gone the other way."