Maitland residents will know soon if they will be offered a bulky goods collection pick up, after Maitland councillors agreed to call for expressions of interest (EOI) for the service.
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The provision of bulky waste collection has been bandied about in the council chamber for many years and strongly advocated by Cr Henry Meskauskas.
At a meeting this week council took the next step towards introducing service but general manager David Evans said the less involvement council has the better.
"Ideally the least involvement of the council in this service the better. Part of the discussion proposed regarding EOI is to canvas what sorts of arrangements might work best to achieve what it is were trying to do," Mr Evans said. He said the service could be one solely between the contractor and the householder.
Council is yet to determine how the program will be financed with the possibility of residents redeeming their free annual tip vouchers as one form of remuneration.
The proposal is for an "on-call" service which wouldn't see piles of items left on footpaths for pick up - the case in many other local government areas. Those lodging EOI's will be invited to a workshop to explore how the service would best operate.
Councillor Philip Penfold said the decision was an important step. He said council needed to take a sensible, measured approach and financially contribute to the service to make it affordable. "This will be a service that does not require items to be left on the kerb but can be left inside or at the side of the house so there is no danger or ugly look," Cr Penfold said.
Cr Ben Whiting said some members of the community oppose the idea, concerned about bulky waste left sitting on the streets for extended periods of time.
In a report, council officers said the significant cost associated with providing such service and concerns regarding the negative impacts on the streetscape have prevented the implementation of a service to date.
Councillors received a briefing on a collection service in July last year. This included an outline of various options and there was consensus that a full scale bulky waste collection service provided by council would be cost prohibitive and may not be necessary for a large section of the community. It was agreed council should establish a mechanism to support those residents that are unable to use their tip vouchers but have a need for bulk waste disposal.