Residents to schedule their own hard rubbish collection

Scheduled hard rubbish pick-ups have been canned across Moonee Valley after streets were strewn with furniture, mattresses and other household junk for weeks last year.

Hard rubbish not collected from Marwick St in Flemington.

Moonee Valley Council is leaving hard rubbish collection up to residents after it dumped scheduled bookings.

Councillor decided at last week’s council meeting to replace scheduled hard rubbish collections with an ‘at call’ service.

By October, residents will be able to book their own hard rubbish collection in what has been called a solution to last year’s nightmare when streets became garbage tips as illegal dumping increased and council collection services struggle to keep up with demand.

Hard rubbish not collected from Marwick St in Flemington last year.

Councillor Samantha Byrne said waste was a “huge issue” for all councils.

“Last year the hard rubbish collection was an absolute disaster, it was mess across our whole city,” Cr Byrne said.

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“With so much hard rubbish on the nature strips it also led to a lot of illegal dumping.”

Council documents showed the collection was “highly valued” by residents but there was a “high level of community dissatisfaction” when hard rubbish was left on nature strips for weeks.

The council reviewed hard rubbish collections in inner and outer fringe Melbourne councils and found most councils were moving to request service because it was more flexible, reduced rubbish being left on the footpath and reduced illegal dumping.

The new model includes two collections per financial year for either hard rubbish or branch and prunings of up to two cubic metres. The two collections can also be combined into one larger collection of four cubic metres in volume.