Red lid garbage bins: Central Coast Council won’t rule out fortnightly pick up
It was a simple request – for Central Coast Council to rule out the possibility of ever going to fortnightly red lid bin pick up. So why was it voted down?
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Red bins are picked up every week – that’s the way it’s always been here on the Central Coast.
However the future of the weekly red bin pick up is in doubt, with Central Coast Council indicating it is looking at fortnightly pick ups as an option in the future.
The issue came to Monday’s council meeting, with Cr Greg Best keen to pass a vote to ensure red bins would always be picked up on a weekly basis.
The council recently had its Central Coast Draft Waste Resource Management Strategy on public exhibition which references fortnightly pick ups.
“We’ve got people genuinely concerned,” Cr Best said. “Rule it out now and put it to bed. Just don’t do it to the people … don’t leave them with the fear.”
Cr Rebecca Gale agreed, saying fortnightly red bin collections would be a nightmare for many people including young families with nappies.
The strategy explores the option of introducing a food organics and garden organics system with the green bin.
This means the green bin would be collected weekly and the red bin would drop back to once a fortnight. The idea around the food organics bin would be try to and reduce the amount of waste we generate each week.
Lake Macquarie City Council has gone down this path with its green bin, including food and grass scraps, collected weekly and red bin, with all other waste, collected fortnightly.
When asked about a potential fortnightly pick up, council’s director of roads, transport drainage and waste management Boris Bolgoff confirmed it was an “option”.
“With food and garden organics, a lot of councils have gone down that way,” he said.
He said the draft waste strategy would come back to council for official adoption once the public submissions are reviewed.
Deputy Mayor Jane Smith said council should not make any rash decisions and allow staff to look at the strategy and submissions.
“Wait for the report,” she said. “What I would like to see is that we go through a proper process and then we make an informed judgment.”
Mayor Lisa Matthews chimed in to make her position clear before councillors voted against ruling out the fortnightly option.
“I can’t support going to a fortnightly bin,” Cr Matthews said.