Moves afoot to avoid another summer stink in Penrith

As the weather gets warmer, Penrith Council is already looking at the collection of bins and ways to reduce the risk of maggots and flies over the summer months.

With the Christmas period identified by residents as a particularly difficult time under the three-bin system, discussions with the council’s contractors SITA and Visy have taken place.

Group manager David Burns told the waste services committee at their latest meeting that there was potential for additional bin collections in the week after Christmas Day.

He said there were a number of issues that needed to be taken into consideration.

These included the additional service needing to be performed in the “off” week, meaning some residents’ additional collection would not happen until the week after Christmas; the service would need to occur outside the hours nominated under the contract for SITA and Visy; and additional staff would need to be sourced and trained.

Concerns were also raised about whether the disposal facilities would be open during the second shift, the increased cost of providing the additional service and the number of residents who would use the additional service.

The committee also considered the use of drop-off centres over the Christmas period, with one in Penrith and the other at St Marys with large bulk bins for waste.

Each site would need to be secure and provided with 24-hour monitoring to control illegal dumping, plus strategically located, taking into consideration traffic, noise, odour and occupational health and safety issues.

Councillor Greg Davies said he would prefer to have the extra pick-ups at a small cost to residents because a drop-off centre may result in dumping.

By Caryn Metcalfe