Queanbeyan Council papers reveal ongoing concerns around recycling facilities. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
A southern NSW council has blamed ”widespread misuse” as it considers a shake-up to bin access for rural residents.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) documents reveal ongoing concerns about how some community members are using recycling facilities.
In response, QPRC is seeking feedback on how an existing voucher system could be expanded and the facilities, known as Rural Recycling Stations (RRS), discontinued.
The proposed changes include widening the voucher system, meaning eligible properties outside the area covered by QPRC’s kerbside waste collection service would receive an extra 10 a year.
Residents would be directed away from the RRS and towards the council’s waste transfer stations.
At the meeting when councillors agreed to put the proposal out for consultation, Cr Ross Macdonald called on his colleagues to support the move.
He won support for his suggestion that the consultation period last for 42 days (rather than the initial plan of giving people 28 days to comment).
“[The RRS] have a sorry history of being abused,” Cr Macdonald said.
“It is not a situation where the majority of residents are undertaking [the damage], but there is a small minority … who have abused this system as their own disposal unit for whatever they so choose.”
Cr Macdonald also hit out at the contamination between recyclable and non-recyclable materials, which means the items need to be taken to landfill at extra cost.
“And when I say a cost to council, I mean a cost to ratepayers,” he said.
Council documents reveal it costs about $148,000 to operate the 10 RRS each year.
“Unfortunately, the rural recycling station service model has been subject to widespread misuse, resulting in contamination and mixing of waste and recyclable materials.
“In addition, the bins have been regularly vandalised and rubbish dumped alongside or adjacent to the bin bank.”
The council has suggested facilities that different communities can use, should the RRS shut permanently. Image: Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council.
A staff member told the councillors there had been educational steps — such as signage — at the RRS, informing people what items were appropriate for recycling.
However, he said prevention was a challenge when the perpetrators were unknown.
He said a “three strikes process of education, education, and then temporary withdrawal of service” was used for people who misused kerbside collections.
“Obviously, we can’t exercise that [method] where the users are essentially anonymous,” he said of the RRS.
The council papers state that a two-year trial of electronic vouchers is also ongoing until June 2027.
“Commingled recycling can already be disposed of at no charge at Council’s waste transfer stations in a supervised setting, thereby ensuring a degree of quality control,” the document outlines.
“Improvements to the waste voucher system will further incentivise the use of transfer stations for general waste disposal, removing the perverse incentive to improperly use the RRS, and effectively making these facilities redundant.”
People can have their say through the YourVoice QPRC platform before 31 October.
