By Ewen McRae
Moorabool council will not provide residents with vouchers for hard rubbish disposal at its transfer stations.
The council last week rejected an officer recommendation that it provide a voucher for use at one of the council’s transfer stations with each rates notice.
The cost of the vouchers, $25, would be passed on to ratepayers as part of their annual rates.
Councillor Tonia Dudzik argued that the vouchers would lead to less dumped rubbish around the municipality.
“Tip vouchers are commonplace in most councils around the place, and the community expects them,” Cr Dudzik said.
“It will help reduce the amount of dumped rubbish that we do have in the community.
“All you have to do is drive down some of our beautiful countryside and see all the rubbish on the side of the road.
“If every resident was provided with a tip voucher, chances are that dumped rubbish would be less.”
However the council rejected the proposal because of concerns about uptake and imposing a cost on all residents.
Councillor Tom Sullivan said asking everyone in Moorabool to foot the bill for the vouchers was irresponsible.
“It encourages more waste generation.
“We could actually see a situation where we try to reduce waste going to landfill but create more,” Cr Sullivan said.
He claimed only about 22-25 per cent of residents use the transfer stations, which left 75 per cent of ratepayers that don’t use them.
“This puts a compulsion on everyone to pay for this.
“It’s not forward thinking and I don’t think we should do it,” Cr Sullivan said.
The council was split on the issue, with mayor Paul Tatchell’s vote resulting in the recommendation being defeated.
