Maribyrnong Council criticised for going through residents’ bins

IF you live in this inner Melbourne municipality, don’t you dare put recyclable items in the regular rubbish bin because Big Brother is now watching.

A COUNCIL is under fire for rummaging through rubbish bins to see if residents are recycling properly.

The City of Maribyrnong has been leaving notes on bins saying: “Oh no! We ask one small favour. Please do not put recyclable items in your garbage bin.”

The notes then detail what items, such as cardboard or drink containers, should have been put in the recycle bin.

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Matthew Lesh, from free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, lashed out at the cost and time that would have been spent for the ­exercise.

“Looking through people’s bins is a creepy invasion of privacy — the council should butt out of our personal lives,” he said.

City of Maribyrnong has left notes on bins belong to residents who fail to recycle their rubbish properly. Picture: Twitter/@zzap

“Big Brother is not only watching you, they’re now sorting through your trash.

“It’s no wonder that rates are skyrocketing.” But Maribyrnong council defended its five-month Recycle Right campaign to inspect 10,000 household recycling and waste bins to provide “insights” on common mistakes.

Council director of infrastructure services Sunil Bhalla said the aim was to cut recycling contamination by 50 per cent and increase waste ­diversion to 46 per cent.

“We hope that through this campaign we reinforce positive recycling behaviour,” Mr Bhalla said.

“This is not about punishing households but about evaluating waste practices.”

A 2016 CSIRO survey of 1200 people commissioned by government agency Sustainability Victoria found the public split over willingness to pay a little more for household waste collection to reduce the amount going into landfill.

Only a third of Victorians agreed they would pay more, while 31 per cent disagreed and 35 per cent were not sure.

The move has been slammed as an “invasion of privacy”. Picture: Twitter/@gatcon1

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While more than two-thirds of Victorians strongly backed kerbside recycling services, fewer than half were strongly in favour of services to collect and dispose of food waste, according to the report Attitudes and Social Acceptance in the Waste and Resource Recovery Sector.

The state government recently announced a $13 million package to help councils and industry hit by China’s decision to stop importing low-quality mixed recyclable rubbish.

China has not completely banned the importation of such material, but is demanding cleaner waste through improved processing.

The package will help councils until June 30, after which they will be required to meet any increased recycling costs.

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@JMasanauskas