Kerbside collection to return to Brisbane within weeks

Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner has confirmed that the popular kerbside collection scheme will return from July – one year earlier than flagged in last year’s budget – amid improving economic conditions.

The decision last year, which sought to claw back $13 million over two years into the council’s pocket, sparked outrage and warnings of an increase in illegal dumping.

Brisbane’s kerbside collection was expected to return in 2022.Credit: Ken Irwin

Speaking to ABC Radio Brisbane ahead of the 2021-22 budget delivery on Wednesday, Cr Schrinner said the suburb-by-suburb service would return within weeks.

“Kerbside collection is coming back,” he said. “We’re kicking off in July.”

The scheme will resume in the suburbs it was first stopped in as the pandemic started to bite last April, before the elongated pause was announced in the June budget.

Cr Schrinner said he did not regret the decision as the $6 million saved had allowed the council to deliver elements of its pandemic assistance to businesses and residents.

“We’ve obviously been able to do this because economic conditions are improving,” he said.

Cr Schrinner also said three of the nine old timber ferries retired from service last year due to safety concerns would be restored and slowly returned to the Brisbane River.

The Norman Park Ferry service would not be returning.

Cr Schrinner said services for those ferries were stopped after it became a safety risk and despite a business case commissioned by the council recommending they all be scrapped, he had made a “captain’s call”.

“These are up to 37 years old. If it was a council bus, we run them for 20 years, and then they get sent out to pasture,” he said. “These have been going every single day for up to 37 years, so they’re very old.”

Cr Schrinner said council was seeking a local project manager to restore the John Oxley, Kalparrin and Lucinda or Bulimba vessels, at a cost of $4 million, expected to be covered by a forfeiture of that value paid to the council by the previous operator.

“It’s part of our history, one that we want to return,” he said.

A total of $1.8 million has been set aside in the next financial year, with more than $2.2 million across 2022-23. The three ferries will join the five replacement vessels, dubbed KittyCat’s, which have faced their own issues around noise since launch.

The lord mayor would not be drawn on any rates increase residents might expect in the 2021-22 budget, set to be released at 11am, but took a swipe at the state government’s own Tuesday budget, which lacked support to councils beyond next year for its waste levy.

Without this residents could see “an $88 hit on every rate bill”, Cr Schrinner said.

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