By Charlene Macaulay
A black market of Werribee tip passes has cropped up online.
An investigation by Star Weekly revealed a number of residents trying to sell their Refuse Disposal Facility Waste Management passes before they expire on September 30.
The passes, which were found on numerous Facebook buy, swap and sell pages, and on Gumtree, were selling for up to $40-$50 for one token, or $80 for two, and most were snapped up within 24 hours of being posted online.
Wyndham council includes two tip passes with the rates notice, with the passes clearly stating they are security enabled and cannot be transferred or redeemable for cash.
Star Weekly took to Facebook last week to ask residents why they were buying tip passes online. Many said it was a cheaper alternative to paying up-front at the tip.
Ilona wrote: “I understand that it costs money to deal with our rubbish, but the tip prices are ridiculous.”
Nancy added: “I think all residents who pay rates to the Werribee council should be able to visit the tip for free.”
According to the Wyndham council website, tip entry fees start at $30 for a car or station wagon load of rubbish up to one tonne, and go as high as $158 for a ute with a single-axle heaped trailer.
Many renters also complained landlords had not passed on the tip tokens.
Tenant John wrote: “Our only way as a long-term resident to use the Werribee tip without having to take out a loan or sell our oldest child into slavery is to buy [a pass]”
One resident even tried to sell her two tip passes in the Facebook thread.
But Wyndham council city operations director Stephen Thorpe stressed that the tip passes were non-transferable, and warned that residents could face prosecution if they’re found using tip passes that are not legally theirs.
“While council has not prosecuted anyone for selling tip passes recently, residents should be aware that each pass has a barcode that identifies the specific address it was issued to,” Mr Thorpe said.
He said only 28.2 per cent of tip passes issued by the council during 2016-17 were actually used.
According to Wyndham council’s waste and litter strategy, the council will reduce the number of tip tokens it issues to one per ratepayer by 2020, and increase the number of free bookable hard waste collections from two to three a year.
