A resident pitch for local rubbish drop-off hubs across Melton to help curb illegal dumping was knocked back by the council, with a report stating the idea is unfeasible.
A petition of 66 signatories was tabled at the June 23 council meeting, requesting that council officers investigate the feasibility of establishing small-scale ‘satellite drop-off hubs’ in identified illegal dumping hotspot areas across the municipality, aiming to make lawful waste disposal more accessible for all residents.
At the August 25 council meeting, a council report was tabled suggesting that council will not implement the initiative.
The report stated that establishing satellite hubs presents significant challenges due to the complexity of site locations, lack of existing infrastructure, high operational costs, and strict legislative requirements.
At the council meeting, Melton director of city delivery Neil Whiteside said the report highlights that council “can’t really offer several waste disposal options … including hard waste collections, entitlements for the Melton recycling facility, free drop-off periods, and dedicated green waste disposal opportunities”.
“The analysis also included benchmarking with comparable councils, which highlighted that none currently operate satellite drop-off hubs specifically for hard or green waste,” Mr Whiteside said.
In the report, it outlined that Melton will continue to address illegal dumping through existing preventative – education and enforcement – and management – proactive and reactive removal – measures, aiming to promote long-term behaviour change.
Councillor John Verdon said that the community’s voice is “really important”, and he hopes the council can engage with the petitioners and residents in future to involve them in shaping its rubbish removal education programs and how to get better use of its free rubbish disposal initiatives.
