Clarence residents want scrapped hard waste service to be restored: Deputy Mayor Allison Ritchie

The deputy mayor of a Greater Hobart council is spearheading a push to restore a hard waste collection service in her municipality – but the move would come at a cost.

Allison Ritchie, deputy mayor Clarence City Council, with Bellerive resident Brian Chapman who has taken part in the hard waste survey with both hoping the service will return. Push for restoration of hard waste services for Clarence City Council. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Clarence residents are clamouring for their local council to restore a discontinued hard waste collection service but Mayor Brendan Blomeley has warned of the financial and environmental implications of sending more than 1000 additional tonnes of potentially recyclable materials to landfill.

A survey initiated and funded by Deputy Mayor Allison Ritchie – and not overseen by the Clarence City Council – was launched in November, gauging community views on the disposal of hard waste.

The council’s annual hard waste collection service ended in the 2023-24 financial year due to a likely delivery cost of $1m and the lack of a contractor to administer it.

Allison Ritchie, deputy mayor Clarence City Council, who is leading a push for hard waste collection to return. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Ritchie said her survey, which runs until the end of the year, had already attracted about 1500 responses and looked certain to eclipse the Clarence City Council’s own record for survey responses, which is 1529.

The Deputy Mayor, who believes a form of hard waste collection should be re-established in the municipality, said she felt it was important that ratepayers were given the opportunity to “provide input” on the matter ahead of the finalisation of Clarence’s 2025-26 budget next year.

“It is very clear from the responses received to date that local residents would like to see the restoration of some form of hard waste collection service,” Ms Ritchie said.

“I think, historically, people felt that it was a really tangible value-add that people got back for their rates.”

There is a push to restore the discontinued hard waste collection service in Clarence. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Ritchie successfully moved a motion at the Clarence City Council’s October 21 meeting that authorised chief executive officer Ian Nelson to review potential future options for a hard waste service in the area.

None of the other three Greater Hobart councils – Hobart, Glenorchy, and Kingborough – offer hard waste collection, requiring residents to either recycle or reuse certain materials or pay to dispose of it at their local tip.

Councils including Sorell, Tasman, and Launceston, however, continue to collect hard waste.

Bellerive resident and former Clarence councillor Brian Chapman said he would like to see the council implement a booking system for hard waste collection, rather than return to an annual service whereby ratepayers simply dumped materials on the street at the same time every year.

Brian Chapman, Bellerive resident, is hopeful Clarence City Council’s discontinued hard waste collection service will return. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“I’m getting to an age … where you can’t get [hard waste] to the tip shop, physically, and I haven’t got a trailer anymore. So there needs to be the opportunity for people to get rid of that hard waste,” he said.

In the age of climate change, the issue of waste management has become more pressing than ever, prompting local governments across Australia to seek sustainable alternatives to landfills, which are major sources of carbon and methane emissions.

Mr Blomeley said environmental and health and safety factors were among the reasons the hard waste collection service was scrapped in Clarence.

Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley. Picture: Linda Higginson

“The last time we ran a hard waste collection 1100 tonnes went to landfill – a 33 per cent increase on the previous year,” he said.

“Council wanted to work towards a better, cleaner city now and for future generations and dumping 1100 tonnes of hard waste into landfill is not a sustainable practice.”

The mayor said Clarence needed to “rethink waste as a valuable resource” and that the council was working with other local governments in Southern Tasmania to “identify best practice hard waste collection solutions and test their viability in the Greater Hobart area”.

Originally published as Clarence residents want scrapped hard waste service to be restored: Deputy Mayor Allison Ritchie