The arrival yesterday of new coloured bins in Forbes has created a stir, with a group of more than 440 residents concerned at the collection rotation.
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A group of residents are aiming to use the Facebook platform to encourage Forbes Shire Council to reconsider collection of the red bin, to be used for general waste, to weekly instead of fortnightly.
The group, entitled Thumbs Down Forbes New Bin Collection, was created on Thursday last week and as of yesterday morning had a membership base of 442.
Spokesman, Jamie Hughes, said the aim was to make council listen to residents.
“This has been brought in after they had surveyed 400 people. I have a group of more than 400 people who don’t want it,” he said.
According to the page, residents are most concerned at the bins being full of refuse such as dirty nappies or off meat for a full fortnight, particularly during the summer months where temperatures can reach in excess of 40 degrees.
“We love the idea of the other bins (green and yellow), but the red bins just need to be picked up weekly.”
“We all have animals, we all compost - the green bins don’t need to be picked up every week.
“There are two people in my household - we fill the (existing) red bin within five days and we recycle as much as possible,” Mr Hughes said.
One resident on the Facebook page voiced a concern over the state of the red bins should residents forget to put out them out for collection, stating it would then be a month before it was emptied.
The Facebook page was a vehicle to gauge public reaction to the adjusted collection system. Mr Hughes said he was also aiming to start a petition, and to address the next council meeting with their concerns.
The Advocate was unable to speak with a Forbes Shire Council representative before print deadline.
In Saturday’s Advocate, we reported that the change followed an audit of red bins last year.
The results of the audit showed that the average red lidded bin on collection day was only 57 per cent full. The audit also found that the red lidded bin contained 27 per cent food waste, 33 per cent garden waste and 16 per cent recyclables leaving only 24 per cent of waste that could not be diverted and needing to be disposed of in the red lidded bin.
Orange is in the process of rolling out a similar system, but the frequency of collection of the general waste bin is being considered at a council meeting tonight.
Orange City Council’s manager of Corporate and Community Relations, Nick Redman, said a report had been compiled on the new system, including results of surveys and trials to determine just how the community would cope with fortnightly collection of general waste.
