By Oscar Parry
Waste collection was a recurring theme at Moorabool’s council meeting last week, with the council to investigate permanent subsidised waste services, including annual hard rubbish collection.
Councillor Steve Venditti-Taylor called for council officers to prepare a report on viable future options for permanent subsidised waste services.
He referred to previous council trials of subsidised waste management services, including delivering one cubic metre of hard rubbish to a local transfer station for free and half-price mattress drop-offs.
“A lot of residents … have …. come into contact with various councillors in this room, basically asking for various things like tip passes … kerbside pickups,” Cr Venditti-Taylor said.
“We’re here to do what the residents are asking, and basically, this is what they want.”
“I think that really if you look at it in the bigger picture … environmentally, if we don’t do something at all, we’ll be in a situation where it could completely get out of hand”
In a separate notice of motion, Cr Sheila Freeman called for council officers to investigate the costs of hiring a contractor to collect up to one cubic metre of hard rubbish directly from residents’ homes, once per household, for a one-month collection period each year.
Cr Freeman said many Moorabool residents, particularly older people and people with disabilities, are unable to transport hard rubbish to a transfer station or afford paid collection services.
Cr Venditti-Taylor said that from talking with residents, he knows “a lot of people… don’t have access to trailers and everything else that goes with it”.
“Something like this would be viable for the vulnerable, the elderly, the people that are restricted,” Cr Venditti-Taylor said.
Cr Moira Berry asked officers how many streets in Moorabool are not accessible by trucks and how many flats in the council area have a small shared nature strip.
Cr Jarrod Bingham voted against the motion, as he said Cr Venditti-Taylor’s motion already called for investigation into kerbside collection and did not want to “double up the workload”.
Cr Freeman requested the report includes costs per household and for Moorabool overall, potential timelines, environmental and logistical considerations, and benchmarking against similar programs in comparable municipalities.
