NO EXCUSES: Councillor Arch Humphery.
Laziness is no reason to implement a bulky waste, kerbside pick-up according to central ward councillor Arch Humphery.
The cost and difficulty of disposing of unwanted household items, too big to fit in the bin, has been cited as the motivation for dumping items illegally, as seen at Rutherford mall on Sunday night.
Cr Humphery said a kerbside collection would not stem the wave of waste.
“Cr Henry Meskauskas keeps putting the argument that they have no way of disposing of it but the fact is people are just too lazy when there are $500,000 in unused tip vouchers,” he said.
“The old chestnut ‘I don’t have vehicle, I don’t have a trailer’ doesn’t wash when the fact is these people have loaded the items into a car looking for a dark corner to dump this stuff.”
At the end of the financial year only half of the tip vouchers issued by Maitland City Council had been used by residents to dump garbage for free.
The Mercury has received numerous blogs and letters on the matter, stating the vouchers were useless without a car or other means to transport their trash.
Cr Humphery said the cost of providing a kerbside pick-up would be substantial and the adoption of such a service should not be done lightly.
“I raised the issue that we should hold a referendum on this, but it was voted down,” he said.
“Nothing is for free and the cost of a kerbside collection will come out of people’s rates even if they take their own rubbish to the tip.
“The cost will be born by pensioners with very little or no rubbish to dispose of.”