As rubbish dumping at charities and thrift stores continues to plague staff, some residents are calling for council to consider implementing some sort of hard rubbish collection.
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Council moved away from hard rubbish collection in December 2009, instead providing residents with two vouchers for free disposal of up to one cubic metre of waste at the council's transfer station.
They have remained steadfast saying hard rubbish isn't financially viable.
“The cost of a hard waste service is a significant additional cost to all residents and does not encourage a full range of diversion of recycling and reuse,” acting infrastructure and environment director Natalie Robertson said.
The Bendigo, Geelong, Golden Plains and Hepburn shires all share similar hard rubbish policies to Ballarat.
However the Central Goldfields Shire offers twice monthly hard rubbish services “to provide frequent and convenient exposure for ratepayers,” acting general manager infrastructure assets and planning Glenn Deaker told The Courier.
Mr Deaker says the service is used by enough residents to make it sustainable for the council.
Removing the need for ratepayers to have to take their rubbish to transfer stations promotes appropriate waste removal.
Many residents find it difficult to transfer their rubbish to the appropriate transfer stations within Ballarat, especially if they are without a a trailer.
“We would encourage ratepayers who don’t have access to a trailer or cannot hire a trailer to utilise (skip and rubbish collection) businesses,” Mrs Robertson said.