Hard rubbish an easy plan to support
GREATER Geelong residents have welcomed a hard rubbish collection trial to start next year.
But council is yet to release details of how the trial will operate and which items will be collected.
Mayor Bruce Harwood said the three-month trial would start on April 1.
“The hard waste collection, at this stage, we are looking to invest about $750,000,” Cr Harwood said. “There will be conditions in relation to the hard waste the community can actually put out.”
He said it was likely households would be eligible for one pick up a year, and a $6.80 fee paid by most Greater Geelong property owners would fund it.
Dumping grounds for hard waste have sprung up across the city.
Yesterday the Geelong Advertiser saw hard rubbish scattered across vacant land at St Georges Rd, Norlane, and also left on a nature strip in Swallow Cres, Norlane. Couches, mattresses, paint tins and other hard rubbish have been found in Corio and Forest Rd North, Lara.
Corio resident Melissa Young said she would take part in the trial.
“I don’t think dumping will completely stop, but the trial will reduce the amount of rubbish dumped,” Ms Young said.
She called for council to allow residents to put out three cubic metres of hard rubbish.
Waste charges will rise to $316.90 a household in 2018-19, and council is set to net an extra $4.8 million through the increase, taking total waste management charges paid by residents to $34.87 million.