Wagga City Council’s impending bin audit has prompted residents to come forward with both praise and criticism for the nine-month-old system.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Some residents have said the increasingly hot weather is creating odour and attracting flies to rubbish bins with contents that are up to 14 days old.
Wagga resident Rhiannon Ryan said the bin cycle could not cope with her children’s nappies.
“It sits there for two weeks and now that summer has hit, it’s vile,” she said.
“The smell and the flies are horrendous; we have to spray every day to control the flies and maggots.”
Others say they can’t get their waste levels down to a point where two weeks of garbage can fit in one smaller bin.
Uranquinty resident Amanda Bell said she was supplementing her bin collection with runs to the tip.
“Right now it’s full, overflowing, lid’s half up and full of maggots,” she said.
“We have a half acre garden and I think I have only put out the green bin full twice since current the system was implemented.”
However, Glenfield resident Elyce Lyons said she was getting a lot of use out of her green bin, which was helping dispose of organic material that could not be composted.
“I’m not running out of space in any of them,” she said.
“Before the bin changes my biggest issue was recycling, which is now basically the same.
“I like the (FOGO) because you can’t put raw meat in a compost bin at home. I like the idea of getting people to reduce waste.”
The council started rolling out is new general waste, recycling and food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection system in February.
As well as introducing new green-top bins for FOGO, rubbish collection was reduced from a weekly to a fortnightly service.
On Tuesday, the council announced that “about 250 households’ bins will be audited at random over the next two weeks.
“The bin contents are bagged and taken to Gregadoo Waste Management Centre where they will be weighed and sorted by specialist auditors,” a council statement said.
“The data collected from the audit will not contain any personal information about the household or residents, and will be identified by the suburb or village only.”
Council waste education and communications officer Alice Kent.said the audit would “include waste generation volumes and weight, correct separation across the three bins and identify any contamination issues”.
“Placing the incorrect item in a bin can impact the quality of the recyclable and compostable material,” she said.
“Recyclable or compostable items that end up in landfill reduces waste recovery rates, sees usable resources lost to landfill, reduces the life span of the cell meaning expensive cells need to be constructed more frequently.”
Ms Kent said the cost of the audit would be $38,700, with $27,500 funded by a NSW Environmental Protection Authority grant.
“The waste audit is a requirement of the EPA funding,” she said.
Ms Kent said residents could apply for extra bins on a fee-based or medical exemption basis.
While you’re with us, did you know that you can now receive updates straight to you inbox each day at 6am from the Daily Advertiser? To make sure you’re up to date with all the Wagga news sign up here.