Hard waste bookings open soon

A BOOK-IN hard waste collection trial will soon begin across Greater Geelong.

From April 1, residents will be able to have their bulky household items picked up from their property.

Bookings for the service are compulsory and can be made from March 1.

The trial aims to collect bulky items that are not accepted or don’t fit into the three-bin residential kerbside collection.

Items that will be accepted include couches andother furniture; white goods; computers; carpets and rugs.

Small amounts of timber, scrap metal, roofing and guttering – all less than 1.5 metres in length – are also allowed.

Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood said he was pleased to see this initiative starting, given it was brought to the table by many councillors in response to feedback from local community members.

“It will be successful if we all follow the guidelines, so we’re keen for everyone to read up about the service and understand how it will work,” Mr Harwood said.

“Our hard waste service will add to the many existing waste recovery and reuse programs already offered by Council, and we encourage everyone to continue to use those as well.

“This includes correctly sorting material between your green, yellow and red bins, and taking advantage of our mattress and e-waste drop-off services.

“We expect a high number of hard waste bookings to begin with, so please be patient as we look to meet everyone’s requests.”

Items that will not be accepted include mattresses, building materials, liquids, chemicals, asbestos, garden waste, commercial/industrial waste, bags of rubbish and car tyres.

The amount of hard waste put out for collection must be less than three cubic metres in volume – equal to a pile three metres long, one metre high and one metre wide.

Residents are allowed one book-in collection each financial year through the trial, which runs until June 2020.

The service is being funded by the residential waste collection charge.

Bookings can be made from that date via geelongaustralia.com.au/hardwaste or by phoning 5272 5444 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

The initiative complements the City’s wide range of existing waste programs, which provide free or low-cost ways to conveniently dispose of a wide range of items.

These can be found at geelongaustralia.com.au/ recycling.

Further details about the hard waste collection service can be found at geelongaustralia.com.au/hardwaste.