Bulky waste collection service to return in 2023

Residents across the Wingecarribee Shire will be able to take advantage of a second free bulky waste service in 2023 following the overnight endorsement by Council.

Council’s Administrator Viv May PSM adopted a recommendation at the Ordinary Meeting of Wednesday 20 July that will see the service return in 2023 following this year’s introductory service.

The recommendation follows a report presented to Council which showed an unprecedented amount of bulky waste was collected over the 16-week collection period.

Council’s General Manager Lisa Miscamble said almost 17,000 properties across the Shire took advantage of this year’s service.

“As a result, Council collected 1,265 tonnes of bulky waste plus 192 tonnes of scrap metal and 1,880 mattresses,” she said.

“These figures demonstrate that the bulky waste service was widely utilised right across the Shire.”

The General Manager said that despite the success of this year’s introductory service Council would continue to fine-tune the service.

“This year’s Shire-wide bulky waste collection roll-out was a trial and error learning experience for Council,” she said. “We’ve already identified several areas where we can streamline and improve the service.”

Ms Miscamble said Council had received a mixture of feedback including compliments and complaints following the introduction of the service.

“The majority of complaints revolved around concerns about illegal dumping, unaccepted or excess items being left on the kerb and the length of time it took for some items to be collected,” she said.

“While this year’s service was impacted by wet weather and COVID, we’ve listened to our residents and we’ve committed to making changes to improve next year’s roll-out.”

Key to these changes will be limiting the collection of one mattress per household and reducing the size of the collection areas to minimise the amount of time bulky waste is left out for collection.

“We’ll also better explain that only two cubic metres can be collected per household and we’ll undertake additional messaging about what can and can’t be collected,” Ms Miscamble added.

During the 2022 service three trucks were used to collect the bulky waste. One for general items, another for mattresses and a third for metals. This aided in the separation of the respective waste streams and helped to maximise recyclable waste and minimise waste diverted to landfill.

A total of 192.15 tonnes of scrap metal was ultimately collected throughout the four-month collection period which was sold as scrap metal for $76,091.

Following the 2023 collection service the report also recommends that Council develop a new tender that considers alternate bulk waste collection methods including a continuation of the current service, pre-booked collection service and voucher system.