Tara Murray
A Brimbank resident is calling for a better hard rubbish collection system in Brimbank to make it easier for people to get rid of big items and recycle.
The resident who contacted Star Weekly said there was a hard waste problem in the western suburbs, including Brimbank.
Other residents have taken to social media to complain about it.
“Hard waste is piling up in all neighbourhood streets,” the resident said.
“Look at other councils like Moreland that have curbside pickup and promote recycling of materials and items.
“I would like to see the curbside collection in Brimbank reinstated and to do away with the booking of hard waste collection on the internet or the phone.
“I speak to neighbours in my street who are not tech savvy. This booking of hard waste is isolating the majority of residents in Brimbank.”
The council provides services including one no charge at-call hard waste collection service annually and additional collection services at an affordable price.
Brimbank council infrastructure and city services director Neil Whiteside disagreed, saying the current system was working well.
He said there had been delays in collection due to the pandemic.
“Brimbank’s at-call hard waste collection service has been affected by staff shortages due to staff needing to isolate due to COVID-19.
“Council has worked closely with its contractor, Cleanaway to minimise interruptions to the service.
“The majority of hard waste collection bookings are collected the week after the booking is made.
“Overall council’s current hard waste collection service, which was introduced in January 2019, is working well.
“Brimbank Council averages 2,000 collections each month with a small number of complaints which are all addressed amicably with residents. Since the service commenced, council is not aware of any issues that have not been resolved to residents’ satisfaction.”.
Mr Whiteside said that rubbish dumping is illegal and something that the council is working hard to address.
