The post prompted many responses from neighbors who said the same thing had happened to them. “This morning I saw them empty the trash container by hand and throw the trash into the recycling bin, then manually lift the recycling bin and load the contents into the truck,” said one.
Another said it had been “happening for years” and posted a photo, while another said the contents of his green organics bin also went into general waste. Several said they were particularly angry because they had been threatened with a fine for having bubble wrap – which had been thrown away by strangers – in recycling bins.
The contents of the red and yellow bins go on the same truck to Earlwood.
Mayor Khal Asfour said it only happened to houses on narrow streets with “difficult access” houses and had been the practice for more than a decade.
“The simple facts of the matter are that the streets are too narrow for our regular side-loading garbage trucks to operate,” he said in a statement to the Herald. “There is no room to turn around and we are forced to send back-loading trucks manned by two employees.”
Canterbury-Bankstown runs its own waste service, having brought it in-house about 18 months ago. He said the old Canterbury council ran a similar service but residents didn’t notice because they were asleep when the trucks arrived.
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However, other councils dealing with narrow streets said they did not have the same problem with the size of the trucks. “Our streets can accommodate our trucks, including our recycling trucks,” a Waverley Council spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for Inner West Council said it had “a range of rubbish and recycling collection fleets tailored to the location being serviced. The Council does not mix rubbish and recycling in the same truck “.
Toumbourou said mixing trash with recycling sent mixed messages to people who took the time to sort their materials before putting them in the bin.
“What we really want is for people to have confidence that the effort they put into sorting their rubbish will be rewarded with strong recycling results.
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“This goes absolutely against the effort that we’re trying to do across the country to create these systems to do curbside recycling.”
He said there was technology that could sort waste at the waste facility, but its use would be transparently communicated and was never the preferred approach.
Meanwhile, concerned about the higher-than-average rate of “contamination” or putting the wrong trash in the wrong bin, Canterbury-Bankstown is introducing camera technology to check the contents of residents’ bins to educate them about what to do with waste
“As a council, we want to proactively incorporate smart thinking into the everyday lives of our residents,” the website said.
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