Inner West Council bin collection overhaul ridiculed: claims of mass confusion, wrong information, lost bins

A Sydney council’s controversial bin collection overhaul has been trashed by locals, who have described the roll out as “anarchy”. See the latest here.

A controversial new bin plan – rolled out by a Sydney council this week – has already resulted in chaos, with residents describing the streets of the city’s inner west as “bin anarchy”.

Inner West Council launched its organics and recycling service on October 9, which saw general waste services collected once a fortnight – rather than the weekly service previously provided.

But inner west residents say the move this week resulted in “mass confusion” as council scrambled to clean up the mess of the rollout.

The FOGO saw many residents confused on launch day.

Residents took to social media to claim new, smaller general waste bins had been stolen, council issued “wrong information” and bins weren’t collected.

The new system, rolled out by other councils including Randwick and Penrith councils in the past will be mandatory across all NSW councils by 2030.

In the Inner West, green bins will now be collected weekly, while red bins will see fortnightly pick-ups.

FOGO rolled out new bins to kick start the new program.

Annandale resident Naomi Myers described the rollout as a "s**t show”.

“Council put a leaflet in the (letter) box and the wording on it wasn’t great … if English wasn’t your first language it would be difficult to understand,” she said.

“I tried looking at the web-based app for guidance – but that didn’t help because that information was wrong, it’s just been a s**t show really.

“I’m all for the change, but I feel like we needed a transition period, we sort of jumped headfirst into it.”

Other locals blasted council, claiming bins had been stolen or never delivered.

“The council has not provided enough information, everyone is confused, lots don’t have fogo bins, lots have had red bins stolen,” one Facebook user commented.

“Flyers say one thing, the app says another and then there is the reality,” they said.

“We have taken to putting all bins out and hoping for the best.”

All councils must use incorporate FOGO by 2030.

Daily Telegraph January 25/1/23. Crown Street Surry Hills. Bins on Sydney streets some overflowing and attacked by birds or rats.picture John Grainger

An Inner West Council spokesman responded to the rocky start, telling The Inner West Courier claiming the anticipated there to be some issues on a project of this scale, but are unaware of Council bins being stolen.

“We’ve said all along that the roll out of our new food recycling service would be challenging at the start and that we will provide all the practical assistance that resident’s need,” he said.

“36,000 people have logged on to the waste collection app in the last week and it is working well. We have extra customer service staff on to assist residents who call with an inquiry about their collection.”

“Lots of residents are giving feedback that they are excited to participate in food recycling and they understand why this important environmental reform is worth making.”