A three month trial of a proposed three bin service will go ahead, after the motion was approved on Monday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As well as the pilot of the organics bin, Dubbo councillors also voted to support a pensioner rebate if the new system was introduced and to continue investigations into an organics waste processing plant.
Up to 300 houses are expected to participate in the trial, to ensure a full representation of the Dubbo community profile.
A green-lidded 240-litre wheelie bin and a 10-litre benchtop caddy with biodegradable liner bags will be provided to those chosen to participate.
Deputy mayor Ben Shields said the possible pensioner rebate was making a "very, very unfair proposal" a little bit more fair.
"I can count, I can see that the majority of councillors are in support of the third bin option for the city. With that being the case, the best I can do is at least try and make it a little bit easier on what I believe are our city's most vulnerable and that's our old folks," Cr Shields said.
"I think a pensioner rebate while not ideal, and certainly does not incorporate every member in our community who is doing it tough, I think we're aiming in the right direction."
Councillor Greg Mohr said everyone he had spoken to had been against the bin and the majority of those were pensioners.
However, Cr Mohr still voted against the trial and the possible pensioner rebate because it was "still a burden".
"I disagreed with it before and I still disagree with it now."
Councillor Bill Kelly said everyone he had spoken to had also been against the bin.
"There are people in the community who can't fill one bin so they don't want three," he said.
"They don't understand the process about converting our rubbish into something that is economically viable, all they understand is the simple picture which is 'I've got three bins out here, I've got this one a quarter full, this one a quarter full and this one empty'. They see it as a complete waste of space."
A similar bin trial was held 11 years ago when Dubbo City Council was considering a green waste collection service.
Councillors Mathew Dickerson, Lyn Griffiths, John Walkom, Bill Kelly, Greg Matthews, Kevin Parker and Tina Reynolds voted in favour of the trial. Councillors Ben Shields and Greg Mohr voted against it.
Absent from the meeting were councillors Allan Smith and Rod Towney.
***
While the trial for a third organics bin goes ahead Dubbo councillor John Walkom has called for Dubbo City Council to investigate a whole of product waste handling facility.
Cr Walkom has proposed an organics waste processing plant as an alternative to the third bin, where waste would be turned into viable products.
"We need to look at our waste as 360 degrees. It comes to us as a product packaging, we use that product, dispose of the packaging and call that waste. What we need to call it and identify it as is a product," Cr Walkom said.
"Once we look at it as a product, we have a commodity that we can sell."
As part of the proposal, councillors, council staff and Netwaste representatives will visit the McCarthur/Easter Creek waste handling services in Western Sydney.
The big appeal of the waste separation path was that it wouldn't require a third bin, Cr Walkom said.
"The majority of people don't want it. The people I've spoken to see no need for it and now there's an alternative where they don't need it."