THE Mildura council says it wants to know what you think about rubbish.
But does it really?
In planning for the next five years of waste management, Mildura Rural City Council has called for public submissions on its draft waste and resource recovery strategy … which in non-bureaucratic talk means “what do you think of council’s garbo service?”
Here in Mildura, we are given a small red bin to dispose of waste that is not organic or recyclable. It’s collected fortnightly, not weekly like virtually everywhere else in Australia.
There are a few other green-dominated councils in Melbourne now trying the same tactic, with similar backlash from their ratepayers.
The result in Mildura has been a mess over the past few years, with overflowing bins lining our streets, while illegal dumping of rubbish has risen.
Council knows all this, so why does it need public submissions to tell it again?
When the Sunraysia Daily ran a survey last year, 94 per cent of more than 2000 respondents wanted the return of a weekly general waste or red bin service.
But those results were dismissed by Mildura Council. Nearly 100 per cent? It’s not an insignificant number.
And any story we run on the issue is always met with enormous social media reaction. It’s not us making up this stuff.
While the council should be applauded for its bold attempts to reduce environmental harm, it needs to acknowledge that its new three-bin strategy continues to prove a nightmare for many local people, particularly families.
We remain one of them, with three young children, and a steady stream of visitors, meaning we produce a lot more waste than, say, an elderly couple.
And, yes, we do correctly dispose of our food scraps, cardboard, recyclables, etcetera.
It means regular trips to the tip to pay extra to dump bags of rubbish that include dirty nappies.
We have a strange bin envy with friends and families in other parts of the state and country.
Friends who have moved to Adelaide and now pay half the rates they did in Mildura, brag to us about again having a weekly general bin service.
Key priorities identified through council’s draft strategy include the reduction of waste generation, increased resource recovery, the beneficial use of organics, as well as waste and resource recovery education.
And, as council has told us, they have contracts already in place with companies around their bin disposals.
So when calling for public submissions … what exactly is council wanting to know from Mildura residents?
Can they handle the truth?
Let’s say, for instance, that 94 per cent of respondents in these submissions tell them they desperately want their weekly bin service back, are council going to listen? Are they going to take action?
No, they’re not.
Their minds are well and truly made up on this issue. In fact, they are chasing a zero waste strategy, so they are not turning back.
They are approaching this one with their ears wide shut.
The public knows that making a submission on waste management strategy is a futile exercise and my guess is that very few people will bother.
Which will suit council just fine – they can shut the lid on all complaints, despite an overwhelming majority of the community backing change.
