By Molly Taylor
ALMOST all items collected through Mount Gambier City Council’s kerbside bulky waste collection service have been been saved from landfill.
A report presented in council outlined 95pc of goods collected through its $200,000 six-month trial were recycled or reused.
From July 1 last year, over 1900 by-appointment collection visits across the Blue Lake city resulted in the accumulation of more than 450 tonnes of reusable hard waste.
Each residential property was eligible for one pick up of up to two cubic metres of hard/bulky waste via a call and collect system, with the bulk of items now housed at the Mount Gambier ReUse Market.
Mayor Lynette Martin said results showed the trial achieved its objective and members needed to discuss whether it would become an ongoing public service.
Councillor Ben Hood echoed the positive response of the chamber.
“This was a great initiative to get off the ground especially during the quite ordinary year we have had in the world,” Mr Hood said.
Cr Hood questioned the financial ratio of outgoing costs and income of item sales.
Council city infrastructure general manager Nick Serle said it was hard to determine as most items were yet to sold due to the ReUse Market, which only just reopened for the first in six months due to COVID-19.
“We haven’t sold a lot of the equipment yet…We have diverted it from landfill and it is there to be sold, but there has been a bit of time lag because of COVID-19,” Mr Serle said.
Councillor Sonya Mezinec expressed her pleasure with the success of the trial and said she believed it was due to its structure.
“I am not sure whether if people were loading up their own trailers, they may have just thrown things in and stuff could have been damaged,” she said.
Cr Mezinec also suggested council could have financially saved as landfill levies had decreased.
Cr Steve Perryman said elected members needed to holistically consider waste management costs.
“There is no doubt there are positives from this particular program and lots of people have appreciated it and taken advantage of the service,” Cr Perryman said.
“Whilst we have a $200,000 expense here, two years we may have a saving in terms of landfill, but the reuse centre is a large cost.”
Cr Perryman said the trial was a good start, but further refining and consideration needed to made, which was agreed by other elected members.
Another report is expected to be presented to council at a later date for discussion.
