By Molly Magennis
Hobsons Bay council has announced a new food and garden organics drop-off service after receiving complaints from residents regarding the smell from the green bins due to their fortnightly collection.
Last week, Star Weekly reported that a Williamstown resident was considering putting his food waste back into the garbage bin instead of the green waste bin due to the “putrid” smell the food waste was creating now collections are fortnightly instead of weekly.
Council made the announcement via its Facebook page on Saturday, stating it was trialing a free drive-through drop-off service for residents that have excess organic waste.
“As Hobsons Bay transitions through this first summer after the recent change to green-bin collection frequency, the drop-off days are a simple way to offer extra capacity for organic waste,” the council stated in the Facebook post.
Residents will be able to drop off food and garden waste on December 18 and January 8and 15. Accepted materials will include food scraps which can be transported in a bucket or newspaper, and garden organics under 1.5m long, bundled and/or contained.
Council also said it was working on other options to support households to recycle food and garden waste, which includes supplying free paper bags for food scraps to all households who register for the trial, which is set to start in February 2022.
In regards to complaints made about the smell of the green bins, councillor Briffa, one of four councillors who voted to change green bin collection to fortnightly back in June, said the issue was challenging.
“I’m hoping that being able to utilise biodegradable bags for food will help. We had similar problems with the previous system, with dog faeces, nappies and others having to remain in general garbage bins for two weeks, so we will always have some issue with smells and a group of residents not being happy.”
