Wyndham Council urged to dump waste collector Cleanaway

Annoyed residents claim garbos are leaving trash — including soiled nappies — scattered across neighbourhoods in Melbourne’s west.

Garbage trucks picking up bins in the Randwick council area on Thursday morning. picture John Grainger

Slack garbos are skipping entire streets and leaving trash strewn across nature strips and parked cars in Wyndham.

Point Cook dad Ben Calder said he’d had enough of the rubbish service since Wyndham changed its waste collector from JJ Richards to Cleanaway late last year.

Mr Calder said his bin had been collected up to four days late.

“They’re driving past my house and they’re not even collecting it,” Mr Calder said.

“If you were to say holistically for the whole area, (the collection is) probably sporadic … but (my bin is) consistently not getting picked up.”

Rose, who declined to have her real name published, said her bin was picked up late or only half emptied, with trash often left littering the streets.

She said on one occasion a baby’s nappy had spilt its contents onto the nature strip.

“Quite a few neighbours have been reporting bins being broken. A neighbour’s bin lid was ripped off,” Rose said.

Dozens of furious residents took to Facebook to vent their frustration at the service, with one woman suggesting residents should be eligible for a rate refund.

“Can we get our fees back for weeks that you don’t collect our trash on time please,” she wrote.

Another woman wrote that her son’s basketball ring was broken after a bin was dropped on it by a garbage collector, while others claimed trash was left on cars and their bins were missed despite putting them out a day early.

Others went as far as to say Cleanaway should be dumped and JJ Richards brought back.

“Please bring back the old contract as my bins are always getting half empty. I’m sick and tired of calling the council about it,” one Facebook user wrote.

Residents are furious at Cleanaway for what they say is a sub par service.

Rubbish collection complaints on Wyndham Council Facebook page. Screenshots taken Jan 12 2021. Council's post was made on on Jan 7.

Mr Calder said it was high time the council took action against the company or at least held constructive talks to bring the service into line.

A spokesman for Cleanaway, in a statement, said more than 900,000 bin collections had been completed in the past month.

He said bins that were packed too tightly were sometimes unable to be fully emptied, while some bins may not be collected at all, including bins:

■ NOT put out on time

■ OVERFULL to the point the lid no longer closed

■ BLOCKED by cars and trailers

Collection times had also changed to 6am-6pm, with residents notified of the change by the council, but collection days remained the same, he said.

“Cleanaway commenced servicing Wyndham in early December,” the spokesman said.

“This was during the peak season over Christmas and New Year. Our truck drivers even worked New Year’s Day to ensure continuity in services.”

Wyndham director of city operations Stephen Thorpe said it typically took several collection cycles for a new waste service provider to train staff to ensure bins were collected on time.

“Over 99 per cent of bins are being collected on time and we are working hard to get that as close to 100 per cent as possible,” Mr Thorpe said.

“We apologise to residents for the inconvenience and thank them for their patience as we work through these teething problems.”