Thursday, 9 March 2023

Merri-bek City Council waste and recycling management

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (09:59): I rise on behalf of the hundreds of local residents who have contacted me to express their frustration with respect to ongoing delays associated with Merri-bek council’s rubbish bin collection services. As outlined in section 8 of the Victorian Local Government Act 2020:

The role of a Council is to provide good governance in its municipal district for the benefit and wellbeing of the municipal community.

As outlined through the Victorian Auditor-General’s report into municipal waste services:

Local councils are responsible for waste collection, processing and disposal.

Local ratepayers have told me that as they continue to experience increases in their rates notices from Merri-bek council they rightly expect and presume that service standards across core council services such as waste collection will continue to improve. However, for many of my residents across large swathes of Pascoe Vale I am sorry to report to the Parliament that this has been far from the case. As reported by Channel 7 and Channel 9 news, and I can verify this from the hundreds of constituents who have contacted me, residents have been experiencing significant delays in the council collecting household waste. Despite residents putting out their waste bins on the kerbside, as asked by council, on designated days, many households are having to wait for days for the waste to be collected. Of the many contacts I have received, I would like to quote a local dad, Nick:

The delayed bin collection is causing a health hazard as the bins remain uncollected for an extended period. Last week our yellow bin was picked up 4 days late, that is 10 days between collections. Our delayed collections are not limited to the yellow lid bins, with green waste regularly delayed as well as our general waste bin.

I met with the council last week to raise this issue, and I ask them to resolve it as soon as possible.