‘Bin police’ threat looms
Western suburb residents who persist in putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bins could face fines or a collection ban on their bins.
Fining “bin-sinners” $5000 for extreme cases is part of a new local waste law passed by Subiaco council.
About 1600 households in Mosman Park and Subiaco were involved in a two-month bin tagging program that ended last week.
Inspectors went house-tohouse, opening bins to check the contents, then attaching tags with a smiley or sad face depending on whether or not rubbish had been placed in the correct bin ( Faces mark bin rating, POST, March 16).
The result was that “bin-sinning” in Subiaco was reduced to almost zero by the end of the five-week program.
“The participating households have responded positively to the program,” said a staff report for last week’s meeting of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council.
But the results for Mosman Park were not as encouraging.
“The data within Mos man Park indicates that similar proportion of households bins are contaminated (week 1 vs week 5), but the severity of contamination has decreased,” the report said.
“There are specific areas that will require further education and the Town may consider reviewing the current bin collection service for certain properties with particularly high levels of contamination.”
The main contaminants in both councils’ recycling bins were soft plastics, un-rinsed containers and bagged recycling, while in the general bin it was recyclables and food scraps.
Some Subiaco residents used non-compostable bags for their food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bins that were misleading branded products,
or dog waste bags from local parks.
Some Mosman Park residents used non-compostable bags in their FOGO but also threw in recyclables and general waste.
Meanwhile, Subiaco approved a slightly revised version of its draft 2023 Waste Local Law at last week’s council meeting.
Under a veil of secrecy, state parliament sent it back to the council last year because of a miniscule mistake in the first draft ( Waste a “privilege” threat to Subi, POST, July 8 2023).
The new law gives the City the power to fine residents $5000 and “a further penalty not exceeding $500 each day” for significant breaches.
Councillor Rosemarie de Vries asked the administration at a public meeting last month to give the community assurances they would not “jump directly” to prosecuting people who breached the law.
The City said fining people was “really a last resort”.
“We try and do education in the first instance,” staff said.
“It would only be repeat offenders and the like who we would make use of those fines.”