Tip fees rise

By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Ranges Council is talking up privatisation of their Coldstream, Wesburn and Healesville landfill centres which will have residents paying more to dump household rubbish and green waste.
The offset is a promise by the new contractor Knox Transfer Station, operating under Yarra Ranges Recycling Services, of better recycling facilities.
The fee structure across all three landfill sites will now be uniform as part of the new waste management contract with non-commercial residents no longer having access to the weighbridge at Coldstream which delivered significantly cheaper options for general household rubbish and green waste charged on weight compared to Healesville and Wesburn which were charged on volume.
The new minimum cost for a level single-axle trailer up to 6×4 is now $60 for general waste and $20 for green waste.
A high-sided or heaped single-axle trailer up to 6×4 will cost $100 per load for general rubbish and $35 for green waste.
Mayor Graham Warren said the approach was consistent with other waste transfer stations in the area and described the $35 fee for a heaped trailer load of green waste as “very reasonable”.
Operators of two handyman /gardener services, two in Healesville and one in Upper Yarra say however the new fees will push their prices up and cost them business. The men didn’t want to be named, but one said with Healesville now cut to a weekend only service, the extra time and fuel carting trailer-loads of green waste to Coldstream would either have to be worn by him in time and money, or charged to his customers. He said leading up to the 2009 bushfires he had customers taking four or five trailer loads to Coldstream and that for many people who took the responsibility of keeping properties in rural areas of the shire clear of fuel, the new fees could see a de-facto rate rise of around $150 in a summer season.
The other said green waste had always been too expensive to ‘tip’ and that he stockpiled it on a rural property until he could burn it.
Cr Warren however reminded residents they could also take advantage of the council’s regular March and November green waste collections and the annual hard waste collection. Council’s fortnightly green organics bins cost a minimum $110 a year.
Michael Strickland, project manager for YRRS said the privatisation of the landfill for Yarra Ranges Council was inevitable and made no pretence that the cost to ratepayers would remain as low as in the past.
“They (council) were subsidising it before and losing so much money on it by providing the service below cost,” he said.
“The State Government tax is $44 a tonne and you’ve got GST on top of that before you even pay for someone at the gate – they were way out of step with other facilities around Melbourne,” he said.
He said Healesville was simply not viable as a five-day week operation.