Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood has urged ratepayers to help make the city’s new hard waste collection “a success” with trials set to begin in April.
“We’re pleased to see this initiative starting, given it was brought to the table by many councillors in response to feedback from local community members,” Cr Harwood said.
“It will be successful if we all follow the guidelines, so we’re keen for everyone to read up about the service and understand how it will work.”
From 1 April residents will be able to have council pick up bulky household items from their property.
Bookings for the service are compulsory. Ratepayers can make a booking from 1 March at www.geelongaustralia.com.au/hardwaste or by phoning 5272 5444 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
“We expect a high number of hard waste bookings to begin with, so please be patient as we look to meet everyone’s requests,” Cr Harwood said.
The trial aims to collect bulky items that are not accepted or don’t fit into the three-bin residential kerbside collection.
Items that council workers will accept include couches and other furniture, white goods, computers, carpets and rugs.
Small amounts of timber, scrap metal, roofing and guttering – all less than 1.5 metres in length – are also allowed.
Items that collectors will not accepted include mattresses, building materials, liquids, chemicals, asbestos, garden waste, commercial and industrial waste, bags of rubbish and car tyres.
“Our hard waste service will add to the many existing waste recovery and reuse programs already offered by Council, and we encourage everyone to continue to use those as well,” Cr Harwood said.
“This includes correctly sorting material between your green, yellow and red bins, and taking advantage of our mattress and e-waste drop-off services.”
The amount of hard waste put out for collection must be less than three cubic metres in volume.
Residents are allowed one book-in collection each financial year through the trial, which runs until June 2020.
The service is being funded by the residential waste collection charge.
Further details about the hard waste collection service can be found at www.geelongaustralia.com.au/hardwaste.
