By Emily-Rose Toohey
After Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) decided to make the kerbside waste expansion in rural areas voluntary in early July, 779 residents have since taken up the service and 585 residents elected not to utilise it.
Nonetheless, an SDRC spokesperson said that council’s domestic waste collection contractor Cleanaway confirmed that the collection service was viable and would continue servicing residents within the expanded area.
“Because council has given residents the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of the collection service, this enables the landowner to make their own decision on how they wish to manage their domestic waste and recycling,“ the spokesperson said.
“A report at yesterday’s Ordinary Council Meeting confirms the compulsory opt-in/opt-out collection areas within the Southern Downs, which may or may not be reviewed at a future time by another council.“
In terms of service’s reception from landholders, the SDRC spokesperson said the responses have ranged from those who loved it to those who have returned their wheelie bins to council.
“The final collection of wheelie bins from those residents who do not wish to continue with the service will take place between 10 -14 October,“ the spokesperson said.
“Correspondence has been sent out last week to those residents whose wheelie bins have not yet been collected.“
In the lead-up to SDRC making the service voluntary, a survey was sent to 1,100 landholders with the following responses recorded as to whether they supported the service going ahead: Yes (29 per cent), No (30 per cent), and not returned (41 per cent).
Of the residents in the expansion area, a council spokesperson said that 59.2 per cent of the overall surveys were returned and 40.8 per cent were not returned.
The expansion was initially set to go ahead as passed by council in February, but public outcry and discontent prompted SDRC to re-evaluate.
Key reasons cited by unhappy residents within the expansion area included council not consulting them prior to the decision, concerns about rate increases, and not having a use for the bins.
These complaints to council resulted in a three-month, cost-free trial period that ended last month, and a survey of those within the area among other measures undertaken by staff.
When the trial’s results were presented at the 27 June council meeting, the motion was amended against staff advice to commit to the expansion and councillors instead decided to “expand the designated waste collection service area on a voluntary basis“.
At the time, SDRC Mayor Vic Pennisi said at the end of the day, the decision was essentially opt-in opt-out.
