RESIDENTS will have to wait until the 11th hour before being allowed their say on proposed changes to rubbish collection services.
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Shoalhaven City Council is considering tenders for rubbish collection over nine years, after submissions were called on two different systems – one offering an organics bin and a hard rubbish bin, the other with three bins, including one for green waste.
Council decided last year not to continue the current system of two bins for recyclable and non-recyclable waste, yet there has been no formal community consultation on what services local residents want and are prepared to pay for.
The lack of community consultation concerned State Member for South Coast and former councillor, Shelley Hancock.
“I think the options should have been presented to the community through a public briefing, the way they do with other issues,” Mrs Hancock said.
“They needed to talk to the community and get their views before they went to tender.”
Mrs Hancock said she had been left in the dark about what was happening.
“Considering I’m the State Member and these things are relevant to me, I’d like some sort of consultation,” she said.
Cr Greg Watson who said the process had been “poorly handled” was surprised council did not go to tender on more options for rubbish collection.
However he conceded, “It’s a very difficult one to run an effective community consultation on.”
Shoalhaven Mayor Paul Green said local residents would have a chance to have a say on the future of rubbish collection services, but only after all tenders had been evaluated and a recommendation had been put to council for consideration.
“We will vote according to the dictates of the community,” Cr Green said.
“If we get calls from an overwhelming number of people saying they want the system to stay the way it is, then I’ve got no problem with that, providing people are aware of the consequences that will bring.”
Cr Green said there would be a heavy cost involved in not changing the way waste was accumulated and collected, and a broad-scale re-education about the way waste was generated in the home, in businesses and in public was needed.
“We’ve got to look to the future sustainability of this city,” he said.
“If we keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them, then we’re going to run out of available landfill very quickly, leaving us nowhere to dispose of rubbish.
“New EPA regulations also makes it very difficult and very costly to establish new landfill areas,” Cr Green said.
