Council urges responsible rubbish disposal through holiday period

THE Surf Coast Shire Council is urging people to take extra care when using public bins after incorrect rubbish disposal caused compacting bin blockages.

Surf Coast Shire Council acting general manager of governance and infrastructure, John Bertoldi, said Lorne was experiencing higher waste volumes compared to previous years, and that council had increased public bin collections to include an afternoon collection.

The additional service is to accommodate for the increase in visitors during peak season.

Mr Bertoldi encouraged people to use solar-powered bins along the town centre’s main street.

When used properly, the solar-powered compacting bins can hold at least five times as much rubbish as a normal bin.

“One of the main issues we are finding in recent weeks is people wedging items such as pizza boxes in the bin hoppers, causing them to block,” Mr Bertoldi said.

“In many instances the bins are showing on our monitoring system as having much more capacity available, yet rubbish is piled on top.”

“We haven’t seen this issue in the past and it doesn’t seem to be an issue in other areas.

“We ask people to please make sure that they place litter into all of our bins, taking care not to block them up, so we can help maintain a clean environment for all.”

The council added larger 660-litre bins on December 31 in response to the reported issues, while a bin service was added on New Year’s Eve in addition to the regular service and clean-up crews went through on New Year’s Day.

“Our solar bins are being emptied every day and our contractor also has an operator going through on afternoons for a second service collecting litter, unblocking hoppers and checking bins.”