By Parker McKenzie
A survey by a Knox City councillor has received more than 2700 responses from the community after the council decided to push ahead with changes to bin collection schedules.
Tirhatuan Ward Counsellor and Deputy Mayor Nicole Seymour launched the survey after Knox City Council voted to forge ahead with the introduction of food and garden organics bins (FOGO) on a weekly basis, alongside a fortnightly collection of rubbish.
Ms Seymour, who voted against the resolution alongside Cr Megan Baker, said she launched the survey because there wasn’t enough community consultation before the decision on the bin schedule was made.
“I’ll be reporting out on the full survey at the end of the month at the council meeting, it’ll be part of my ward update,” she said.
“There’s been really good distribution across all of Knox. In terms of demographic profile, I’d say it’s pretty representative as well.”
The changes to bin services, set to be introduced in mid-2023, were mandated by the Victorian State Government in March 2020, when it introduced a new policy to standardise rubbish collection across the state by introducing a new four-bin waste and recycling system.
During the council meeting on Monday 25 July, where the resolution was voted upon, Councillor Timmers-Leitch said Knox City Council had the opportunity to learn from councils that had already introduced FOGO bins.
“I’m very comfortable with the motion that was in our papers,” she said.
“I’m actually pleased to see in this report that Knox City Council has the opportunity to learn from those councils that have gone before us and on the evidence of what best practices and to me that best practice is clear.”
Ms Seymour said people were on board with the introduction of a FOGO bin, but the community had made it clear they wanted the opportunity to be consulted on the changes and the introduction of fortnightly collections for general waste.
“What a lot of people are saying to me is they don’t actually have the room to accommodate a three or four bin setup,” she said.
“That’s the way that their townhouses or their apartments are designed.”
In an online statement after the decision, Knox Mayor Cr Susan Laukens said there was clear evidence to suggest a weekly collection of the FOGO bin combined with a fortnightly collection of the rubbish bin is the most successful in diverting food waste from ending up in a landfill.
“We know this will be a big change for our community and we will offer additional support and service options where needed,” she said.
“We will consult the community to understand what some of the challenges of this change will be and what special exemptions and arrangements can be put in place for households that have specific needs like children in nappies and people using incontinence aids, larger households or households with high volumes of medical waste.”
