23 July, 2020

Gunnedah Shire Council is reviewing its waste collection services and calling on the community to provide feedback about kerbside and commercial collections.

Council’s current waste, recycling and garden organics kerbside collection contract is reaching its expiry in 2021 and new contracts are being planned and developed for both residential and commercial services.

Council’s Waste Manager Sheridan Cameron said there are a number of factors to be taken into consideration for the new contract, including community needs, cost of services and environmental impacts.

“We value the range of viewpoints in our community and want to engage with residents and local business owners about their satisfaction with the current service and preferences for future services,” Mrs Cameron said.

“We want to hear from residents so that we can provide a more effective and efficient delivery of the kerbside service and reduce the amount of waste disposed of to landfill.

“Waste management is one of the core services of Council and relevant to all residents, so I encourage everyone to register their views through this survey so that we are able make an informed decision about future changes.”

Changes to the current services that are being considered include:

• Bin capacity, for example larger bins for residents;
• Collection frequency, including comparing weekly and fortnightly collection of bins;
• Commercial Recycling.

There are two surveys available for people to provide feedback regarding residential and commercial waste services:

• Residential Waste Survey: for all local households, including residents who are renting or do not currently receive a Council kerbside collection. To access this survey visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S3VYCPX
• Commercial Waste Survey: For local business owners who have or are interested in a commercial kerbside pick up. Commercial businesses that are renting may wish to also consult with their landlord as this service is not compulsory. To access the survey visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KSSWWZQ 

Hard copies are available at the Gunnedah Shire Council Administration Building, Gunnedah Shire Library and the Civic Centre.

The survey will be open until August 20, 2020. For further information about waste management in the Gunnedah Shire, visit www.gunnedah.nsw.gov.au.

 FAQ - WASTE, RECYCLING AND GARDEN ORGANICS KERBSIDE COLLECTION COMMUNITY SATISFACTION SURVEY

1. WHAT CHANGES IS COUNCIL CONSIDERING?
Council is reviewing waste management service costs and is considering the best options to service the needs of the community and the environment. Changes to bin sizes, collection frequency and services are being considered, such as larger recycling bins and the introduction of recycling collection for local businesses. Please fill out the community waste survey on the Council website to provide feedback.

2. I AM A LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER, DO I NEED TO FILL OUT BOTH THE RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL WASTE SURVEY?
Yes. The residential waste survey refers to the kerbside collection service for households and the commercial waste survey refers to the waste collection service for businesses. Council would like to find out what you like and dislike about each of these services and what they can improve on.

3. I WORK FOR A LOCAL BUSINESS, DO I NEED TO FILL OUT THE COMMERCIAL WASTE SURVEY?
No. Only business owners are required to fill out the commercial waste survey.

4. WHY DOES COUNCIL WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MY HOUSING STATUS AND AGE GROUP?
This information is useful for Council to gauge whether a good representation of the community is being captured in the community feedback.

5. I DON’T WANT MY WASTE SERVICES TO CHANGE, DO I STILL FILL OUT THE SURVEY?
Yes. If you like the current services you should provide this feedback to Council so this opinion can be considered as they analyse options.

6. I DON’T NEED A BIGGER RECYCLING BIN, CAN I KEEP MY CURRENT BIN?
Council is considering providing larger recycling bins to all residents to encourage residents to recycle more. If this option is chosen, it will be the new standard bin size and all resident recycling bins will be upgraded.

7. WHY IS COUNCIL CONSIDERING CHANGING FROM WEEKLY TO FORTNIGHTLY COLLECTION OF THE RECYCLING BIN?
Council is considering fortnightly collection of the recycling bin as this may reduce the service cost.

8. I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH GENERAL WASTE BIN SPACE, CAN I HAVE MORE THAN ONE BIN?
The Council is encouraging residents to recycle as much as possible and recommends recycling more to free up space in the general waste bin. If you require extra bin space, please contact council. Additional charges will be incurred.

9. IF I DON’T PUT OUT A BIN FOR COLLECTION, WHY DO I STILL GET CHARGED A FEE ON MY RATE NOTICE?
If you live in an area provided with a collection service, you are entitled to use that service. Council must pay its contractor to service the whole area, thus Council passes the cost of collection onto all residential properties entitled to access this service.

10. WHAT CAN I PUT IN MY BINS?

• The green waste bin only accepts garden waste.
• The recycling (yellow-lid) bin accepts recyclable packaging from the kitchen and bathroom and tin/aluminium cans.
• The general waste (red-lid) bin is suitable for all other household waste, excluding hazardous and problem waste such as paint, oil, batteries, gas bottles, fire extinguishers or syringes. For further information, visit the Council website (www.gunnedah.nsw.gov.au) for a guide to waste bins and services, ‘Sorting for our future’.

11. WHAT IS FOGO?
FOGO stands for Food Organics Garden Organics. It relates to the co-collection of food organics and garden organics in the green-lidded organics bin. Food waste includes vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, bread and essentially all leftovers or waste food from the household. A FOGO service is going to be reviewed in 2026