Shire says no to tip scrounger

Jane Emerick
Surf Coast Shire environmentalists are demanding access to Anglesea tip so they can scrounge for waste to recycle, according to a woman who recycles “good” rubbish for household products.
Torquay surf industry environmental consultant Chloe Messner said shire staff had denied her access to the tip several times when she had wanted to gather “hard goods” for her home.
She said the staff had also knocked back other people wanting to recycle waste from the tip.
Ms Messner said the denying residents access to “perfectly good” waste at the tip contradicted the shire’s motto to reduce, reuse and recycle.
“I saw an amazingly perfect, unreal trampoline and I wasn’t able to take it,” Ms Messner said.
“If council is worried about safety issues then people could sign a waiver to say they’re responsible for what they take and it’s not a problem.”
Ms Messner said anyone who would consider suing the shire over faulty items they found at the tip “should be shot”.
Ms Messner said she had furnished her home with waste from the tip.
“Why buy something new when you can reuse something and reduce the amount of rubbish in the landfill,” she said.
“They should be encouraging this, not preventing it.”
Ms Messner, who teaches at a Melbourne college, said she restored discarded furniture to create new artistic items for her home.
She said her coffee table was a sheet of Plexiglass on top of an old bathtub she had illegally taken from the tip.
A Surf Coast Shire spokesperson said the Anglesea landfill would be full by 2016.
But despite the tip’s increasing volume, safety issues prevented public access to the tip, the spokesperson said.
“Collecting the items is downright dangerous,” the spokesperson said.
“The items they get could be worn-out and unsafe.”
The spokesperson said transfer stations at North Geelong and Lorne had “recycling shops” where staff sorted items for the public to reuse.
But a similar facility at the Anglesea tip would need state funding to get off the ground, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson could not say how much it would cost to establish a recycling ship at Anglesea’s landfill.