A rancid stench hangs heavy in the air for many Aussie residents, who claim their homes are being overrun by a revolting tide of pests, all thanks to controversial new bin collection trials. What started as an environmental initiative has devolved into a bitter battle, with locals across numerous councils reporting an alarming surge in maggots, flies, and overflowing rubbish since their red-lidded bins switched to a fortnightly pick-up.
In the City of Rockingham, south of Perth, the topic of bin collection has been a viral point of discussion since the council’s FOGO rollout in June last year.
Councillors reportedly went head to head with furious locals over smelly and messy binds during a council meeting earlier this week, after a motion to reinstate weekly red bin collections was defeated, West Coast Radio reported.
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This is despite residents reporting an increase in flies, maggots and overflowing bins since collection was reduced to fortnightly, and a petition with over 6800 signatures supporting the The issue has now sparked plenty of outrage online.
Residents have reported maggots infesting their bins and rubbish strewn across the suburb after weekly bin collection changed to fortnightly.
“Two of my neighbours are piling rubbish bags on the side of their houses,” one shared on Facebook recently.
“The crows are getting in, and my garden is full of trash. I’m so over this,” another commented, while a third stated: “What a joke this whole system is, last week our red bin wasn’t collected, today the other side of the road green bin wasn’t collected.”
Some residents have even resorted to using public bins at parks and beaches to dump their extra waste.
Another Rockingham resident Leanne also highlighted the poor use of council funds.
“Good grief! It’s hard enough remembering what bin on what week as it is,” she said.
“I’m not keen on our shire wasting money on pathetic little ‘kitchen food scraps bins’ when I refuse to have any bin in my kitchen and am happy to bury food scraps in the vegetable garden or put in the worm farm.
“Definitely not happy about being told what to do in this regard.”
Residents are calling for the return of weekly bin collections. Source: Facebook
The WA council is not alone in their push to reduce household waste.
A number of SA councils, including District Council of Grant, The Adelaide Hills Council, City Of Burnside, City of Prospect and City of Charles Sturt have run trials or are in midst of a FOGO bin trial with various success.
In Victoria, Merri-bek City Council is also running a fortnightly rubbish collection trial in parts of Hadfield, Brunswick, and Brunswick West to encourage more food waste diversion.
Rockingham Councillor Dawn Jecks, who has been vocal online about the positive impact the new bin system will have for current and future residents, said retaining a weekly general waste bin would significantly increase costs and risk loss of grant funding.
Bins are overflowing at public parks as residents look for ways to get rid of their excess general waste. Source: Facebook
“Reverting back to weekly red top bin collection is not a simple switch,” she said.
“Weekly general waste collection means more trucks, more drivers, more fuel and higher landfill disposal costs”.
Changing the frequency would require “renegotiating contracts, reconfiguring routes, purchasing additional trucks and increasing staffing.
“Essentially, weekly red bin collection would dramatically increase costs for everyone,” she claimed.
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