MELTON Council has been urged to reduce tip fees in an effort to slash the level of waste being dumped around the shire.
Melton resident John Goodman said charges at the Melton Recycling Facility (MRF) were too high and could be contributing to illegal dumping.
This comes after residents expressed frustration with the lack of a hard-waste collection service and the council launched a probe into the dumping of items, including a lawnmower, in Hillside. The council used video footage provided by a resident to track down the offender and issue a fine.
“The amount of rubbish being dumped appears to be getting greater and greater all the time. I think it’s because people are objecting to the cost of using the tip,” Mr Goodman said.
Each car or station wagon-load taken to the MRF incurs a $15 gate fee. This can reach $60 for a tandem trailer with high sides. Individual items such as mattresses cost $20 to dispose of. Car tyres are charged at $8 each.
Mr Goodman said green waste should be free and residents should only pay for what goes into landfill. As reported by the Weekly, illegal dumping costs the council about $200,000 each year.
Mr Goodman said
lower tip fees would reduce this burden. “If a person doesn’t have $30 in their pocket and they don’t have a trailer, it has to go somewhere,” he said. “I’ve never dumped rubbish in my life, but you can imagine how people can be.”
The council’s operations manager, Greg Wood, said gate fees defrayed the operational costs of the facility. He said the real problem was society’s “throw-away mentality”, and better education was needed.
“People need to consider when buying a new item, like a television, what will happen to the old item,” Mr Wood said.
He said residents were given free options to dispose of hard waste each year. Vouchers are available for one free collection from home of up to three cubic metres, or free access to the MRF for a single-axle trailer twice a year or double-axle trailer once a year.
“Melton endeavours to retain gate prices at or below metropolitan gate fees for waste disposal and retains one of the lowest gate fee structures in metropolitan Melbourne,” Mr Wood said.
