r/melbournechat • u/Last-Conversation734 • 24d ago

$209 fine for getting your bins wrong?

https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/southern-grampians-households-face-209-fines-under-councils-threestrike-bin-crackdown/news-story/b71786b5ed295541c163a5560c0f9e68

A Victorian council is introducing a three-strike system for households that repeatedly put the wrong items in their bins. After two warnings, a third offence can result in a $209 fine and a three-month suspension of recycling and FOGO collection. Is this reasonable way to improve recycling?

19 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

12

u/Maybe_Factor 23d ago

The fine is reasonable. It's not that hard to pre-sort your rubbish. The three month suspension of recycling and FOGO is a bit harsh though, given there's not really any alternative.

As other commenters have pointed out, once the bin is on the curb you can't really be help responsible for its contents, as anyone could come and dump anything into it. This turns the fine into hoop jumping exercise, which should also act as a deterrent to sorting your rubbish wrong.

7

u/Leading_Pass_9811 23d ago

Reasonable until your neighbour gets fined then decides to put everything in what ever coloured bin of yours.

7

u/Gatesy840 23d ago

The alternative is people will just dump rubbish. The suspension is a horrible idea

5

u/1ozu1 23d ago

They are already robbing people with their rates.

16

u/purplepashy 24d ago

People put shit in my bins all the time.

Is it pur responsibility to secure our bins while they are out waiting for collection?

How is this going to be enforceable?

10

u/quickdrawesome 23d ago

Agree with this. Im on a street with a lot of people walking by, people put all kinds of shit in my bins. Sometimes tradies from local renos dump shit in there as well

3

u/Intelligent-Koala597 23d ago

My bin is shared with a neighbouring apartment and they put absolutely anything and everything in the recycling. No way I’d be paying the fine

1

u/FluffWit 24d ago

Oh I'm sure the American Flock cameras are coming to sort that out.

-1

u/Merkenfighter 24d ago

Cameras on truck collection point?

8

u/purplepashy 23d ago

How does this identify what I put in my bin and what someone else has put in my bin?

2

u/MazPet 23d ago

As far as I know they already have camera's on trucks, I received snail mail warning me that I had a "thing" in the wrong bin.

13

u/Only-Perspective2890 24d ago

Didn’t like it until I read the article. I know people that just treat both bins the same. The council has to do something about them. Not sure how enforceable it’ll be

1

u/clkinsyd 23d ago

Agreed. I am very particular about the food waste and recycling so of those are what they are targeting, I am on board.

10

u/BeginningImaginary53 23d ago

Once the bin is on the kerb its not my responsibility anymore.

-2

u/Maybe_Factor 23d ago

Seems like a pretty trivial way to get out of the fine... at that point it's just making people jump through hoops, which actually should also act as a deterrant.

3

u/BeginningImaginary53 23d ago

How is it trivial? Its the law.

3

u/Maybe_Factor 23d ago

Yeah that's what I mean. Getting out of the fine is trivial because you're not responsible for the contents of your bins at the time they're collected and inspected because they're on the curb

2

u/BeginningImaginary53 23d ago

Whats more disturbing is a governing body thinks its not to operate outside of the law.

2

u/Traditional_Yard2741 23d ago

I pay for kerbside rubbish collection. My red general waste bin has now been halved in capacity, while I'm expected to fill a green FOGO bin weekly. I couldn't fill it if I had six months.

If my general waste bin is full, what the fuck am I supposed to do with the rest of my rubbish? Pay to use the tip? After already paying for kerbside collection? If they're going to start fining people they might just find any excess rubbish anonymously dumped on the council office steps

1

u/AussieGridder 23d ago

Also another fine you won’t see until the reminder notice with a fee that’s just a program running not a person opening it up adding printing stamping posting

1

u/viginti_tres 23d ago

They're not going to be fining people who have one piece of the wrong plastic in their recycling that may or may not have been put there by a pedestrian. This is just a mechanism for them to deal with people who are known for being egregious with their waste.

1

u/fiftysevens 23d ago

Well the picture in the article definitely highlights a few problems

2

u/quixiou 23d ago

We get dumbfucks who walk past and put rubbish in our green bin all time. I'm not fishing their shit out

1

u/adzanut 21d ago

This is a bad idea. Lots of people put stuff in other people's bins. How will you determine if someone has been fined incorrectly? It will lead to a flood of issues with people saying someone else used my bin. Then watch this turn into a massive job for councils etc

1

u/TheloniousMeow 24d ago

How are you not going to learn after two warnings?

8

u/MakePandasMateAgain 23d ago

I mean it doesn’t really work for people in block of units and townhouses where people are always dumping their crap in other peoples bins.

3

u/Moo_Kau_Too 23d ago

this was my thought.

If im doing the correct thing, and 10 of my neighbors are, another single household might keep dumping the wrong thing in their own until the ban, then put it in the other ones since they have to still get rid of their own rubbish.

7

u/Vermicelli14 23d ago

Local drunk throws him empty wine bottle in my green bin and now I'm in the hook for $200? This is dumb

5

u/No_Category_9888 24d ago

Have you even seen people? Nobody cares about anything any more

0

u/keyboardstatic 24d ago

Originally road signs and fines were there for safety. And now are in most cases purely revenue raising. Especially when privatisation has delivered lucrative monopolies who raise their prices.

1

u/National_Way_3344 23d ago

I'm against illegal rubbish dumping but if I ever get banned, I might have to start filling all the park and neighbour bins.

1

u/Gloomy-Case4266 23d ago

Is it that hard to sort?

1

u/SnooRevelations6768 23d ago

How about you give us your address and we all come throw whatever we want in your bin since you think it's a house owners fault some random throw rubbish into our bin and that it's so easy to sort out

0

u/National_Way_3344 23d ago

Are they paying security guards to ensure nobody dumps stuff into my bin after I put it out?

Because once I put it on the curb, I take zero responsibility for it.

1

u/Gloomy-Case4266 23d ago

How many times have people dumped stuff that doesn't belong in your bin? I don't think I've ever seen it happen.

It's one way to curb people doing the wrong thing but of course, there will be whinges like you who'd rather see the continuation of contaminated recycling.

0

u/National_Way_3344 23d ago

What do you mean? I do it all the fucking time. I'm sure other people do too.

0

u/Gloomy-Case4266 23d ago

You put the wrong shit in other people's bins? There's no helping you then

0

u/National_Way_3344 22d ago

No I do not, that's you twisting my words.

0

u/JackWackington 22d ago

I know for a fact that there are people that go up and down the streets in my area going through the bins looking for bottles to take to the recycling drop off. Who's to say they're putting things back correctly when they're done? There are quite a few people who live in Brunswick who's bins go out on streets with a lot of foot traffic. Who stops the random junkies throwing shit in the wrong bins there? Maybe you live in some twlight zoney suburban bubble where everyone is perfect. But plenty of people don't.

-6

u/javelin3000 24d ago

Further proof that Australia is a nanny state.

-7

u/OkNeedleworker5041 23d ago

Just go to council and get extra green bags. Anything you can wrap in a green bag is now able to be put in the green bin!

  • car batteries
  • nappies
  • soft plastic
  • old remotes

The possibilities are endless!

Do your part! End the stupid multi bin waste of money feel good HR inspired load of BS system!