Don’t waste your time – avoid trips to the tip
09 April 2020
Residents urged to avoid unnecessary clean outs and urged to stay safe at home
Bin collection services are continuing to operate as normal during the coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency, however, Council is asking all residents to avoid making trips to the tip at this time and to provide a clear pathway for collection trucks to pick up bins.
On March 30 the Government announced that all residents must stay home unless they are attending work or education, shopping for food and essentials, exercising or receiving medical care.
Mayor of Tweed Katie Milne said it was concerning that that visitors to the Stotts Creek Resource Recovery Centre (the tip) has increased by almost 200 per cent over the last two weeks compared to the same period last year.
She advised that along with the health risks posed to the community as well as staff at Stotts Creek Resource Recovery Centre, visiting the tip at this time is not considered essential.
“We would really like to strongly encourage everyone to stay home as increased customers places more risk on staff and residents and we want to do our part to minimise the spread of COVID-19,” Cr Milne said.
“To ensure the waste facility can continue to operate throughout this crisis for our bin collection services, it’s imperative that staff aren’t put at increased risk. It is an extremely challenging time for everyone and we appreciate our understanding community working with us to ensure we can keep delivering these critical services.
“There are a lot of people at home with time on their hands so please go ahead and have a clean-out, however, just stockpile any items that you would normally take to the tip unless it is absolutely critical to dispose of them (i.e. moving house), just until we get through the COVID-19 crisis,” she said.
While doing a clean-out, consider the ‘less to landfill’ approach and organise items into categories. For example, items to donate to charity, items to sell (on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace, for example), items to take to the tip for free which includes metal, white goods, TVs, computers and accessories, and paint (for a full list go to www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/RecyclingReducing), green or garden waste (place onto tarp for ease of movement) and as a last resort, items for landfill.
“You can also get creative and get the kids involved to repurpose items, such as turning a broken teapot into a garden pot, pull apart items that you may be able to reuse in the future, fix items to give them another life, or recreate items that you already have and turn them into new things,” Cr Milne said.
On another note, collection truck drivers have also been experiencing some difficulties accessing bins for pick-up now that many people are at home and there are more cars parked in the street.
“Wherever possible, try and make sure wheelie bins are accessible with a clear path for the collection truck as drivers will be avoiding moving bins by hand to minimise the risk of COVID-19,” Cr Milne said.
Some easy tips to help things run smoothly and have your bin collected include: placing bins out on time (truck schedules may differ slightly during this period), ensuring bins are clear of parked cars, trees or poles, avoiding parking in front of bins on collection days, keeping turning-circles free at the end of cul-de-sacs and placing bins on a straight section of road, where possible.
Vulnerable residents with special collection agreements will not have any changes. Council has temporarily closed the Tip Shop until further notice.
The Stotts Creek Resource Recovery Centre will be closed tomorrow (Good Friday) and hours on the Monday public holiday are reduced to 9am to 3.45pm.
For full details about Council’s response to COVID-19, visit www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/coronavirus.
Downloads
Photo 1(JPG, 140KB)
Caption: Take a 'less to landfill' approach and purpose, reuse, fix or recreate items.
Photo 2(JPG, 115KB)
Caption: Hold on to it, don't go to the tip now.