Sydney City Council faces mounting stench as bins overflow
The council and contractor had prioritized the collection of red-topped bins containing general household rubbish during the 24-hour shutdown, as fewer crews were collecting rubbish.
The council has also paused new bulky waste collections and allocated additional resources to clear a backlog.
Patrick Lloyd of Surry Hills says overflowing rubbish bins have attracted rats to his street in Surry Hills.Credit:Patrick Lloyd
Local residents have been voicing grievances about poor rubbish collection since at least last May, when the council said the absence of COVID-19 was a major factor in late pick-ups and missed rubbish bins.
Labor councilor Linda Scott, who opposed the council’s decision to outsource waste collection some 18 months ago, said she’s made grievances on a daily basis and the problems are persistent and widespread.
“This is urgent. This problem has existed for years. It is long overdue for the Lord Mayor to act to improve the council.”
A local resident, Patrick Lloyd, said overflowing bins and a pile of dumped rubbish had attracted rats to his street in Surry Hills. Ben Grant, of Newtown, said his belongings “piled up rubbish”.
Rubbish bins in Elizabeth Bay. A City of Sydney spokesman said the council was working to minimize the disruption to services.Credit:Louise Kennerley
“While we understand that industrial action is taking place and these issues need to be addressed and resolved, it is difficult to see that a council cannot support one of its core services [of] Garbage disposal,” Grant said.
Weldon said other residents were concerned that rat infestations could pose a serious public health risk.
“The City Council urgently needs to make improvements to the city’s garbage collection services and consider all available rat eradication methods and control strategies,” Weldon said.
Scott said while the council is only responsible for municipal waste and not commercial waste generated by offices, shops and restaurants, it has a duty to keep streets and sidewalks clean.
“I’m concerned that the state of our roads will discourage companies looking to move their workers back to the CBD,” she said.
City Council’s rubbish concerns were exacerbated when a refuse truck was forced to dump a load of rubbish on the light rail tracks in Haymarket after the rubbish caught fire on Monday afternoon.
This was announced by the city of Sydney Nine messages The probable cause of the fire was lithium batteries that were improperly disposed of with household waste. The council said the batteries “could be quite volatile when compressed”.
The morninging Edition Newsletter is our guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights of the day. Sign up here.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-is-urgent-sydney-council-faces-growing-stink-as-bins-dumped-rubbish-pile-up-20230131-p5cgrp.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_national_nsw Sydney City Council faces mounting stench as bins overflow
