Free bin to provide relief in battle to keep City of Melville properties clear of tree litter

Drowning in a sea of ​​fallen leaves, Melville City residents may soon want an extra trash can to dispose of them.

Suburbs such as Applecross are famous for their iconic jacarandas and purple displays, but the resulting leaf litter has caused some residents to “freak out”.

Last month the city was asked to look into providing extra Food Organics Green Organics boxes to residents of areas where trees shed a lot of leaves in the fall.

The extra bin would be delivered free of charge by the city and would be picked up in late fall.

City staff advised against the idea, saying it would have “significant operational, financial and service delivery impacts” and that residents could already pay for an extra bin.

But at its March 17 meeting, the council voted 7-6 in favor of a proposal by council member Nicole Robins that the city make up to 500 bins available in a 12-month trial and evaluate the results.

The vote was tied 6-6 until Mayor Katy Mair cast her second vote to suggest extra bins.

It was initially open to all residents but was changed to only cover residents most affected by city trees after Cr Jennifer Spanbroek said people on the Canning Highway might want an extra bin.

Cr Robins said the current arrangement was unfair to people clearing debris from city land and was the second most common issue he was contacted about.

“They asked me, ‘Why do I have to deal with this? Why am I having to bear this cost and the burden of this when these aren’t my trees?’ “We are frequently contacted by people who say:

“A resident struggling with this issue in Bateman asked me, ‘Well, should I throw the leaves back into the park?’ he said.

“People have told me that there should be a user-pays principle for something like this, but my argument would be that if the user pays, then the city should pay for it.

“If citizens can’t dispose of their waste properly because there’s no space in their bins, then I think we’ve failed them.”

Cr Glynis Barber asked how the council could tell that the leaves collected had come from the trees. Cr Robins said he did not expect staff to differentiate.

Cr Clive Ross said fallen leaves could be slippery and pose a safety risk.

“Right now the city is getting away with not doing its job properly and completely,” he said.

“It’s about allowing people who are willing to do council work for the council to give them some support in doing that. And if not, then maybe the message to residents should be to buy a fan, blow it out into the street and let the council deal with it.”

Other council members were not comfortable spending the money needed to provide and collect the extra bins. The cost was estimated to be approximately $132,000 if there were 1000 requests, and approximately $298,000 if there were 3000 requests.

Cr George Panayotou said he wanted to keep city services to a minimum so rates could be kept low.

“Melville is a lush green city. There are trees everywhere. There will be an expectation that everyone will want that extra bin,” he said.

Cr Karen Wheatland said people needed to be smarter about how they dealt with waste.

“We can’t keep asking for bigger trash cans or extra trash cans,” he said.

“I understand that there is an excessive amount of leaf litter in some leafy suburbs. It drives you crazy.”

Most roads in the city are swept four times a year. As the leaves fall, the city uses a road sweeper nearly every day in heavy leaffall areas for about eight weeks, costing about $1,300 per day.

An additional FOGO box is available for $213 per year.

A city service that collected bagged leaves was discontinued in 2018 due to safety concerns and the upcoming rollout of FOGO in 2019.