Rubbish woes continue

Island Ward councillor Ronnie Bauer remains unimpressed with what he describes as a highly unsatisfactory garbage collection service over the summer holiday period.

He said his pre-election pledge to work to improve the service, and his call for weekly red bin pick-ups in January stands.

Uncollected putrid red bins were dotted around the streets of Phillip Island last week, in the height of the tourism season, after confused residents put them out in the vain hope of collection.

Cr Bauer describes the current summer pick up service as confusing and inadequate.

While a weekly recycling yellow bin collection pickup in January is provided, annual and ongoing community calls for a red bin weekly service in summer have been ignored by council over the past two years.

And the lack of conformity with bin colours between municipalities across Victoria adds to the confusion, with visitors in rental properties unsure of what goes where.

“In Stonnington, the red bin is equivalent to our green bin. They have a blue bin which is equivalent to our yellow bin,” Cr Bauer explained.

“People who come here have no idea and fill the bins in the way they are familiar with elsewhere. And so confusion reigns!”

Cr Bauer said the garbage calendar put out by council is confusing, and residents found the month of January difficult to follow.

“The council calendar has a blue pick up week throughout January. We don’t have a blue bin. It is confusing people,” said Cr Bauer.

“The problem is compounded when tenants leave mid-cycle and incoming tenants are stuck with a red bin rubbish collection just once a fortnight.”

He said council needed to work with the community and with the problem … not against it. And he believes there is a very simple answer to the main problem: a fortnightly red bin pick up in January.

“It absolutely needs to be a weekly pick up in the summer holidays. Rates, roads and rubbish are council fundamentals. Rubbish is a council responsibility,” he said.

“The population on Phillip Island in January increases ten-fold. The corresponding increase in putrescible garbage has to be addressed.

“Every other service here adjusts and plans accordingly, to cater for the January influx.

“I cannot understand the resistance by council to the introduction of an additional three weekly collections of the red bins over summer.”

Cr Bauer said he would continue to advocate for this change.

“It really should not be rocket science.”