Service cleaned up

A FREE hard waste collection service operated by Townsville City Council is being revamped after complaints the city’s streets were looking like dumps.

The council’s water and waste services department has reviewed the scheme, presenting options cutting the time frame for collection to times outside of the cyclone season and reducing the number of collection zones, to try to make it easier for people to know when to put unwanted goods out on the footpath.

Acting Mayor Les Walker said there were some areas of the scheme which needed improvement but that mostly the feedback from people had been fantastic.

“This is the first time council has done this in more than a decade, so we have taken on board all the community feedback and we will make changes to improve the service,” Cr Walker said.

“There are some areas of improvement and that’s why staff have worked on a new streamlined program what will be simpler and quicker.”

The council’s water and waste committee yesterday ac- cepted a recommendation to reduce the program time frame to about 26 weeks to operate between April and November.

The number of collection zones will be reduced from 25 to nine or 10, to align with suburb boundaries and postcodes.

The scheme was started in late January and is now about 90 per cent complete, with some outlying areas such as Alice River, Rupertswood, Rangewood and Woodstock yet to be done.

Cr Walker said the recommendations for change, which would go to the full council at its meeting later this month, were good ones.

“This takes us well and truly away from the wet season and cyclone season, which is a great outcome. That’s us listening to the community,” Cr Walker said.

He said all hard rubbish collections were not pleasing to the eye but that the benefit was being proactive to remove the material from people’s properties rather than being reactive after a cyclone.

Cr Walker said there was no doubt the changes would help mitigate people’s concerns about the length of time being taken to collect the rubbish.

Changes to the zones would also help communication.

“That’s critical, so people have a better understanding ( of when to place rubbish on the footpath),” Cr Walker said.

But Cr Walker said the feedback from the public about the scheme had been “fantastic”.

“The community love it, more so those ( people) that don’t get the opportunity to go to the tip with the hard rubbish,” Cr Walker said.

So far, the scheme has collected 3500 tonnes of hard rubbish, with about 10 per cent of that white goods.

About 42 per cent of households participated, with the average household pile weighing 100kg.

The council included an allocation of $ 1.1 million in its 2018- 19 budget for this year’s collection and to commence the 2019 service.