Cost Issue with Kangaroo Island Waste Management
By Mal Ellson

Summary

30th June marks the first full year of island wide kerbside collection of domestic waste by Kangaroo Island Council. Residential properties are charged $285 per year for this service, regardless of the amount of waste collected from each property. Householders can put out a maximum of one garbage bin and one recyclables each week, a total of 104 bins per year.

$285 to collect 104 bins is very cheap, about $2.75 per bin.

However, not everyone generates 104 bins of waste per year. I have had just 3 bins collected this year, and I am not likely to exceed 3 bins next year either. My lifestyle is such that I don't generate much waste.

Three bins per year equates to $95 per bin collected!

This to me is not fair. People not generating waste are subsidising those who do.

Are you interested in this issue? Are you paying a huge amount per bin collected, or are you having large amounts of waste removed from your property at low cost? Have your say in this poll.

Correspondence with council

Correspondence
March 16th:	Initial email to councillors
March 18th:	Reply from Jayne Bates
March 19th:	Reply from Bec Davis
April 20th:	Council's resolution (35kb pdf)
April 20th:	My initial response
May 1st:	Reply from Craig Wickham
May 2nd:	Response to Councillor Craig Wickham

I have corresponded with Council on this issue, and my concerns have been discussed by Council.

Initially I visited the council website and collected the email addresses of all councillors with email addresses listed: Jayne Bates, Malcolm Boxall, Graeme Connell, Bec Davis, Trevor Draysey, Mark Morris, Craig Wickham and Joy Willson. Councillors Sue de Rohan and Milton Turner did not have email addresses listed, and were not included in the mailing.

The email was sent on 16th March. I asked all councillors to reply personally so that I could know their personal opinions. Only two councillors, Jayne Bates and Bec Davis, replied before Council discussed the matter on 13th April.

Craig Wickham replied on May 1st, after the meeting had been held. It is now late June and the remaining councillors have still not replied.

The lack of response from most councillors is disappointing. Ratepayers need to be able to discuss concerns with our elected councillors.

Please read the correspondence to familiarise yourself with the issues raised, and vote in the poll. If you have other considerations you would like to bring to my attention, please let me know.

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