A HARD waste initiative could be trialled in Mount Gambier during National Recycling Week this November.
The proposed scheme would allow residents to register online to legally leave goods in front of their home for collection by passers-by.
Mount Gambier City Council resolved the initiative, proposed by Trudy-Anne Doyle at last week’s budget meeting, be referred to its environmental sustainability sub-committee for investigation and consideration.
Ms Doyle said the scheme would be an inexpensive trial for a potential hard waste management system.
“I’ve been thinking about it in the context of the National Garage Sale Trail day,” Ms Doyle said during her presentation.
“My idea was that residents could register with council if they were going to put hard waste out for the week and at the end of the week, rather than have council collect everything and dispose of it, the people registered have to take the items back inside or dispose of the items themselves if they weren’t collected.
“It would be more of a kerbside recycle initiative – I thought council could create an online map and people could log in to see where people have hard waste items out the front.”
Councillors heard deputations from two other community members, including a submission from Mark Jones outlining two possible cost recovery options which would allow council to limit residential rate increases.
Mr Jones suggested a bed levy be paid by hotels and motels to contribute to a tourism fund
“Council’s investment in tourism is a worthy thing to do, however there is one clear winner with more tourists visiting the city and that is the accommodation sector – in essence, ratepayer funds are being
used to boost the profitability of accommodation providers,” Mr Jones said.
“The accommodation sector bed levy should not be excessive – it will help provide an equitable outcome for ratepayers who are not involved with the tourism industry.
“The levy could be allocated to councils tourism budget lines so ratepayer funds can be re-allocated to other areas of need.”
Council’s 2017/18 draft budget will be considered and adopted during a final budget meeting on July 5.
