TOWERING above a pile of rancid foodscraps, unwanted furniture and decaying cardboard boxes at the Robertson recycling bay stands a Council sign proclaiming, “Rubbish dumping is an offence”.
The irony of the spectacle hasn’t been lost on councillor Larry Whipper.
“Most of this is household rubbish, people are abusing it and just using it as a tip site I’m sure,” the Robertson resident said.
“It’s a real concern because the idea is we’re trying to encourage people to recycle and do the right thing.”
Located on the corner of Meryla and Burrawang Streets near the Illawarra Highway, the facility has been designed as a drop-off point for recyclable glass and plastic from outlying rural properties not serviced by Council’s collection service.
However, the bay has become a popular site for the dumping of unsorted household waste, with Council forced to clear the rank mound each week.
While Cr Whipper said Council needs to take action to amend the rubbish build-up at the site, he rejected any suggestion exorbitant disposal fees at Welby tip could be the cause of the problem.
Currently, the cost of dumping a boot load of mixed rubbish at Welby Tip is $16.50 and a standard trailer load costs $33.
“I think you will always get an element of people no matter what you do that are just dumpers,” Cr Whipper said.
“And of course it comes up all the time that Council increase their pick-up frequency.
“People jump on the band wagon and say, ‘Because of this, I dump’, but irrespective of that and the opportunities you make available to the community, there is a hardcore element that just don’t care.
“I don’t think these people would go to Welby, that’s why they use this facility, they know that there is going to be a pick-up service of some sort here, so obviously they think Council will have to clean it up, they won’t leave it.”
Cr Whipper said allowing larger bins for households was an option Council would look into in the future, however, the possibility of more frequent clearing of rubbish at the recycling bay was not desirable as it would lead to the formation of a “pseudo-tip”.
He said the onus shouldn’t be on Council to solve the problem, but on the community to take responsibility for its own waste.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from, it could be from far and wide,” Cr Whipper said.
“Obviously people within the village I’d say and possibly some visitors to the village are using it for other purposes.
“It is pretty horrendous, but I think overall it still is a minority of people.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
Referring to the Exeter recycling bay, which was closed three weeks ago, Cr Whipper said the Robertson service is set to be removed by Council if the dumping problem isn’t resolved within the next month.
“It’s certainly been an ongoing problem, for about three or four years now it’s been located in this position,” he said.
“It was previously located on the highway and people asked that it be moved because it was being abused, but certainly not to this extent.
“It was moved around the corner and we tried to educate the community and try and make them take responsibility for their own rubbish.
“Obviously it hasn’t happened.”
CouncilR 17;s general manager David McGowan was not available for comment yesterday.
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