Tips in the balance

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
YARRA Ranges Council is considering the future of the Healesville and Wesburn tips.
The council operates waste transfer stations in Coldstream, Healesville and Wesburn.
Council staff are currently reviewing the operation of the waste transfer stations and will provide councillors with five options to vote on.
Residents are charged by weight at the Coldstream tip, whereas at Healesville and Wesburn tips residents are charged by volume.
One option is rumoured to be the closure of Healesville and Wesburn tips to consolidate them at Coldstream’s Ingram Road station.
Mayor Len Cox said the Coldstream tip cost only about a quarter of what the other two cost to run.
“I would be very surprised if there was any move to close one of them, but we’re just trying to lower the cost of spending on them,” he said.
“Wesburn and Healesville cost a lot more than Coldstream to run, so we might review the way they are operated.”
Wesburn resident Jim Child said whether or not council was losing money at the tips, they were a public service and residents had a right to accessible tipping.
Coldstream tip charges residents according to the weight of the rubbish, at $130 per tonne for general waste, $150 per tonne for commercial waste and $86 per tonne for green waste, while at Healesville and Wesburn the charge is determined by the amount of rubbish – general waste is charged at $74 per cubic metre and green waste is charged at $23 per cubic metre.