There have been a host of hostile rants in the local newspaper about the rubbish dumped in local streets and site owners have been withdrawing permission for charity bins on their property because of the rubbish that accumulates in guise of useful donations.
No wonder the citizens are confused, because the policies on tip charges by Wollongong Council make absolutely no sense. In " computerise " - " they do not compute ! "
Lets take a simple example and follow it through the two courses open to Wollongong ratepayers.
Suppose a family buys a new double bed mattress and base. The supplier delivers it, but it is up to the family to dispose of the old mattress - and the family has a trailer. They take it to the tip at Whyte's Gully - and find that there is a tip fee of $ 23 for the mattress, but the base is treated differently. The base is weighed - and charged at the rate of $ 21 for each hundred kilos - or part thereof. On average, the family pays $ 44 to legally dispose of an unwanted mattress and base.
On the other hand, the family can contact council and arrange for a kerbside pickup of that mattress and base - for free. Every ratepayer is entitled to two such pickups each calendar year, and this is in addition to the wheelie bins, which are charged for under the general council rates. These kerbside pickups are there to handle items too large or bulky to fit in the wheelie bin system.
One would wonder how a system evolved that penalises a ratepayer who saves the council time and money in providing a free pickup by taking their own rubbish to the tip - and this all comes back to a charge the government imposed to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill.
According to some government whiz kid, councils are charged $ 78.60 a tonne for all rubbish going to landfill because the government hopes this will encourage councils to adopt more recycling and make the tip space last longer.
The end result of this exercise in futility is that disposing of the same mattress and base can either cost you $ 44 - or nothing !
If the citizens are still dumping rubbish roadside, then it is a sure indictment that the council have not done a good job of getting the message out that they will pick it up for free.
And the mind boggles to find that we have reached the stage when " big brother " will impose a heavy fine on those with public spirit - who seek to bestow savings on the public purse by taking their own rubbish to the tip.
Feed that conundrum into a computer - and expect a terse " Will not compute " !
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