Under the environmentally-friendly scheme, general household waste collection will go from weekly to fortnightly, while “green waste” such as food scraps, lawn clippings and weeds will be collected weekly.

The plans generated massive backlash when first revealed in April, with many complaining council had failed to adequately consult with the community.

Councils often consider commercial contracts behind closed doors, but North Wagga resident Austin Gregor still questioned the secrecy surrounding the three reports.

“We’re talking about emptying bins, what’s the big secret?” Mr Gregor said.

“I don’t understand why everything’s got to be done in secret these days, why don’t they talk to the people and ask their opinion?”

While Wagga was pushing ahead with the proposed changes, critics warned against repeating the mistakes of other cities.

“It would make absolute sense to look at Albury and learn those lessons,” ratepayers group leader Wes Fang said.

“They’ve had enormous problems and when I asked council how they’d work around it I didn’t get a satisfactory result.”

Similar changes were made to waste collection in Albury in 2014, but residents also complained of a lack of consultation from the border council.

There were also complaints of excess waste during Christmas and Easter periods that prompted a push for extra services to remove the build-up of rubbish.

In Bendigo, a similar scheme saw close to 2000 people apply for exemptions to the changes and one resident even reported the council to the Human Rights Commission.

Wagga City Council surveyed residents about waste collection in 2015 and found 62 per cent of people were in favour of switching to a “food organics and garden organics” (FOGO) system, but 66 per cent opposed a change to fortnightly general rubbish collection.

However, council remained steadfast that the changes were driven by the survey.