Wait list balloons for rubbish collection scheme

More than 600 people have joined the wait list for a neighbourhood rubbish clean-up scheme since kerbside collections stopped, a councillor says.

The two-year pause on Brisbane City Council’s kerbside collections has seen the wait list for an alternative scheme blow out to 647 residents, a Labor councillor says.

Forest Lake ward Councillor Charles Strunk said Council had confirmed to him that the wait list for the free Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme had blown out.

He said some elderly or disabled residents in his ward had also contacted him to complain they were told they were ineligible.

Dumped household items had begun appearing across his ward, particularly in bush areas such as along Johnson Rd, Forest Lake, since Council announced the kerbside collection pause in the June Budget.

But City Standards, Community Health and Safety Chair, Kim Marx, accused Cr Strunk of spreading “fake news’’.

“Of the more than 860 requests we have received for the free Good Neighbour Clean-up- Scheme, only 20 applications have not been approved due to the applicant not meeting the eligibility criteria,’’ Cr Marx said.

“It would be a much better outcome for residents if Cr Strunk spent as much energy helping vulnerable members of his community become aware of the free Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme as he did trying to sell fake news to the media.

“The hyperbole from Labor Councillors bears no reality to the situation in Brisbane at the moment.’’

The two-year kerbside collection pause will save $13 million but generated a huge, instant backlash on social media.

Fears Council collection move will make streets ‘dumping grounds’

Kerbside scheme paused to help plug coronavirus Budget hole

Federal Labor MP for Oxley, Milton Dick, whose seat covers the Forest Lake and Jamboree wards, raised the matter in Parliament.

“Our community has experienced an increase in illegal dumping, and residents are dissatisfied with the Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme,’’ he told the House.

“Forest Lake ward residents will miss out on a total of three collection services. This is another unfair cut to our community.

“Brisbane City Council’s profile indicates that 11.3 per cent of residents are 65-plus and older, which means that an estimated 88.7 per cent are unable to benefit from the Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme.

“The Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme helps Brisbane’s most vulnerable and elderly residents to remove unwanted goods from their home.

“I call on the LNP council to reinstate this service, reverse these mean and unfair cuts and start delivering for the ratepayers of Brisbane to help keep our city clean and green.’’

Forest Lake couple Maureen and Dirk Scalongne said they contacted Council to ask to be put on the Good Neighbour list but were told they did not qualify, even though Mr Scalongne is 79 and has crippling back pain.

Mrs Scalongne is 72 and has osteoarthritis.

“When I complained they said ‘don’t you have a family?’. The man I spoke to on the phone then suggested I hire someone to take (our items) away,’’ she said.

The local Lions club stepped in after Cr Strunk approached them for help.

Lions paid for a private company to remove the Scalongne’s dismantled shed on Monday (August 31).

Cr Marx said illegal dumping infringements had dropped from 71 in the 2019 financial year to 69 in the 2020 financial year.

He also said illegal dumping reports across Brisbane were trending down.

“When kerbside collection was paused in late March due to COVID, many residents had already placed their items on the kerbside for their planned collection,’’ Cr Marx said.

“Council officers and some councillors went out in their suburbs and distributed additional letters advising residents the scheme was paused due to COVID.

“Free waste vouchers to help these residents dispose of their waste at any of Council’s tips were also provided.

“We made a tough decision to postpone kerbside collection for two years but have ensured every Brisbane household — homeowners and renters — can dispose of household rubbish responsibly and affordably, by providing free waste vouchers in the mail.

“The decision to postpone kerbside collection was not made lightly.

Cr Marx said he wanted to see kerbside collections back “just as much as anyone’’, howveer that would happen only when Council could afford it.

“Our priority is to support residents, businesses and community groups who are hurting and struggling through the economic impacts of coronavirus,’’ he said.

Cr Strunk said the kerbside collection pause was particularly unfair in wards such as his which was due to have kerbside collections between March and June

“Forest Lake people paid their (2019-2020) rates for their household items to be collected — and it won’t be,’’ he said.

“The removal of kerbside collection is a contradiction to Council’s ‘Clean and Green Brisbane’ initiative.

“Let me be clear that cancelling the Forest Lake ward kerbside collection has seen

an increase in illegal dumping, as the Good Neighbour Clean-up Scheme is a poorly

structured program that excludes some of our most vulnerable residents, directly

and indirectly.”

Cr Strunk talks to a resident about his petition.

Cr Strunk said illegal dumping reports had skyrocketed from an average of just over two per month to 30 per month.

A Labor Opposition e-petition to reinstate the kerbside service attracted 5434 signatures across Brisbane, with 434 signatures for a separate Forest Lake petition organised by Cr Strunk.

“The Lord Mayor owes residents an explanation and needs to reinstate the kerbside

collection as a matter of urgency,” he said.