May 13, 2021

A new 10 year contract for Gunnedah Shire’s waste, recycling and garden organics kerbside collection service has been announced, with JR Richards & Sons to continue their current kerbside collections and take on residential and commercial recycling collections.

Local business Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises will continue to process recycling at Recyclit, located within the Gunnedah Waste Management Facility.

The new service will be rolled out from July and residents will see some changes to the kerbside collection service. Larger 240L recycling bins will be provided to accommodate a move to a fortnightly recycling collection and some residents may have a new collection day. The current weekly waste and fortnightly green waste collections will remain unchanged.

Over the past 12 months Gunnedah Shire Council has been reviewing waste collection services as the current collection contract is set to expire at the end of June.

Council Manager of Waste Sheridan Cameron said the new collection contract was directly shaped by strong community feedback received during the residential and commercial waste collection surveys completed last year.

“Council has been working collaboratively with waste consultants Mike Ritchie Associates to accommodate resident’s preferences for future services and find innovative solutions,” Mrs Cameron said.

“We are thrilled to be continuing our partnership with Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises in the new contract. They perform valuable work in our community and have been integral to growing our recycling output and reducing what we send to landfill.

“Community feedback has helped us develop the new contact with JR Richards & Sons with no reduction in services. We received over 600 survey responses and this healthy sample size gives us confidence the community’s needs have been represented.

“Survey results showed our bins and services are well utilised, with almost 50% of bins full at collection time. Residents would also like to see us introduce bigger recycling bins, but we have had to consider NSW standards and balance this with cost so have opted to move to a fortnightly recycling collection.

“The new contract has been designed to be flexible, and residents can opt to upgrade the size of their bins once the new service has been rolled out.

“The commercial survey gave insight into current and future needs of our businesses. The majority indicated they would like a Council commercial recycling service and this has been accommodated in the new contract.”

The new collection routine will begin on Monday, 5 July 2021. New bins and a comprehensive information pack will be delivered to households during June.

For further information about kerbside collection changes click here.

2020 Waste Survey Summary:

• A majority of residents are happy with their current service. 62% of people with the 2-bin service and 57% with the 3-bin service are happy.
• Bins and services are well utilised. Almost 50% of garbage and recycling bins and 32% of green waste bins were full at collection time.
• Almost half of respondents were willing to pay $1-2 more (weekly) for a larger garbage bin, however a majority of respondents were not willing to pay more for a larger recycling bin.
• A majority of businesses would likely use a Council commercial recycling service (79%) and would pay $7-9 (81%).

ENDS

Media contact: Communications team (02) 6740 2100.