By JESSE GRAHAM
HARD Waste collections in the Yarra Ranges could be pushed later into the year, following complaints about piles of rubbish during the peak tourist season.
At Yarra Ranges Council’s meeting on Tuesday, 9 February, Yarra Valley Gables Motel owner Ralph Henderson said international visitors, while complimenting the valley, had asked why there was rubbish in the streets of town.
In a presentation, Mr Henderson asked the council to re-think its hard waste collection, whether through changing to a call-and-collect system, offering tip vouchers, or simply changing the date to avoid peak tourist times, such as summer.
“Tourists don’t owe us a living – they can go to other places,” he said.
Councillors at the meeting agreed it had been an issue, with Cr Jim Child noting that hard waste was visible in the televised Jayco Herald Sun Tour, which came through the valley earlier in the month.
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Environment and Engineering, Mark Varmalis, told councillors at the meeting that council’s contractors were “booked up” for other parts of the year, but that the contract was up for renewal this year.
Mr Varmalis noted that it would cost $4 million to provide tip vouchers for one trailer-load of rubbish to every resident in the Yarra Ranges, whereas the hard waste collection allows for three cubic metres of rubbish, and costs council about $1.5 million.
After the meeting, Cr Fiona McAllister said she personally felt the timing of hard waste collections had been an issue over the years.
“I’ll definitely be pushing to get the timing changed,” she said.
“There are plenty of other times in the year, when the weather’s okay, we haven’t got long weekends or as many significant events.”
Mr Henderson said the hard rubbish piles made the area unattractive for visitors, and said the council paying more to have collections later in the year would help businesses.
“We all want council to make money, but it’s costing local businesses money at the same time – that’s not a good outcome,” he said.
Mr Varmalis said that council was “considering“ the option of changing the collection time, ahead of re-tendering its hard waste collection contract this year.
“As there are limited providers of these services across Melbourne, the rescheduling will need to fit within the selected contractor’s availability,“ he said.
“Seasonal issues will also be considered in changing the service collection time, as increased rain during winter can impact the service.“
Meanwhile, the Mail has spoken to residents who claim only part of their hard waste was collected, and that they were left notes from contractors saying they exceeded their three cubic metre allocation.
The residents, all of whom asked to remain anonymous, said their items remained on the street after the scheduled collection.
The Mail has also witnessed multiple posts on Facebook noticeboard pages from Yarra Ranges residents angry about partial collections.
Mr Varmalis said council received “daily” reports from contractors about hard waste not being collected, because they either went over their limit or put out ineligible materials, such as paint or tyres.
He said the limits were enforced to ensure the shire-wide collection was done “in a timely and efficient manner, without increasing services costs and additional disposal costs”.
“Excess materials outside of the collection limit must be returned back into the resident’s property and private arrangements made to dispose of the materials at a tip, or disposed by a private contractor,” he said.
However, Cr McAllister said her view was council should have “some leeway”, and collect piles that are slightly over the limit.
“Not everybody puts out hard waste, so surely, there is a way of defining expectation to whoever we use, so that it’s all picked up,” she said.
“Ultimately, most people don’t abuse it.
“I just think it would be common sense to have a bit of leeway on that.”
Each household can put out three cubic metres of hard waste, three cubic metres of bundled branches and unlimited metals up to 1.5m in length.
Have you had issues with hard waste collection? Do you think the collection time should be changed, or do you like it the way it is? Write a letter to the editor to editor@mailnewsgroup.com.au or to 244 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, 3777.
