Survey results

The results are in from Randwick Council’s survey on waste and two things are clear – people want food waste recycling and they want costs kept low.

The survey was open to all ratepayers and residents to complete between 24 July to 3 September 2019 either via Council’s Your Say website or by returning a hard copy survey included with the July rates notice.

A total of 4,593 responses were received with 93% of respondents indicating they own their own home and 78% of respondents indicating they have lived in Randwick City for more than 10 years.

The purpose of the survey was to help Council understand resident attitudes and expectations about waste collection services to inform the scope of a new contract for collection services. Council plans to issue the tender in 2019 and appoint a waste collection contractor in 2020. The new waste services contract is likely to commence in late 2020 or early 2021, due to the lead-in time required to purchase trucks and arrange staff.

Food waste collection

You told us:

• 64% of respondents support collecting food waste and 55% support the collection of food and garden organics waste in the same bin. 53% of respondents were prepared to pay more for service with 25% happy to pay about $18 more per year. 40% of respondents were opposed to paying more.

How Council is responding:

• We hear that food waste collection is important! Recent industry changes also means collecting food and organic waste in the same bin is the most effective means to reduce landfill and increase recycling. We are looking to implement a combined weekly food and organic waste recycling service from late 2020 or early 2021. Your red-lidded rubbish bin (without food waste) will be collected fortnightly. More information will be supplied to residents about this important change over the coming 12 months.

New bins

You told us:

• 42% of respondents support new smart bins as part of a future waste service. 26% disagreed and 32% were unsure or said it wasn’t relevant.

How Council is responding:

• We hear that new smart bins are not strongly supported. We are looking to minimise bin replacement where possible. However, some new bins will be required as Council is looking to change from a fortnightly green waste service to a weekly green and food service. We are also looking to increase the size of your red-lidded waste bin to provide extra capacity for fortnightly collection.

Kerbside clean-up services

You told us:

• 88% of respondents are satisfied with our current service. 64% of respondents support changing the clean-up frequency from two scheduled and two on-calls clean-ups per household per year to one scheduled and five on-call clean-ups per household per year.

How Council is responding:

• From 2020 we will be increasing flexibility around clean-up services by offering households the ability to book five unscheduled clean-ups per year at a time of your choosing and offering one scheduled clean-up per household per year. The changes will be cost neutral.

Kerb to kerb collection

You told us:

• We asked if residents wanted us to change the way we pick up your bins. A kerb to kerb service uses a rear-loading truck with a driver and two runners and provides a higher level of service by accessing and returning bins directly from/to the kerb. This is different to our current approach of using a side-loading truck with runners moving bins from the kerb to the road and back after collection.
• 41% support kerb to kerb collection and 34% oppose. 30% of respondents were prepared to pay more for this service.

How Council is responding:

• We hear that changing our collection practices is not generally supported. We will not be requiring kerb to kerb collection in the brief for our new waste collection contract. We may however consider use rear-loading trucks in some highly populated areas of Randwick City where side-loading causes congestion and safety issues. We will keep any cost increases as low as possible.