Precious item found
Visiting Bendigo on Sunday, July 3, I accidentally dropped a brooch that had belonged to my mother.
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I retraced my steps through the railway station, and even searched the train, to no avail.
My Bendigo friend suggested we ask at the ticket counter, and to my great joy, it had been handed in.
Thank you to the kind person who did this!
While not valuable, it is worth a great deal to me and now means even more than it did before.
Stella Bromilow, Reservoir
A missed opportunity
The introduction of the kerbside organic collection has created a missed opportunity for council, the community and the environment to gain the maximum outcome because the process has fallen short.
Bendigo needs an organic collection because 60 per cent of waste in rubbish bins is organic and we as a community are putting it into landfill generating greenhouse gases and excessive expenditure amounting to millions of dollars which can be avoided.
The six month trial of consultation with 2700 homes was very successful. Residents gave good feedback, it was flexible and it consisted of a fortnightly pick up of rubbish. This allowed for council trucks to pick up rubbish one week and organics the following week using existing trucks and staff with no outside contractor. A very efficient process with no extra costs.
A survey asked residents “Does the fortnightly collection of the waste (red lid) suit your household needs?” The result – 67 per cent said yes and 33 per cent said no.
Council opted for the conservative view. Introduce an organics collection but maintain a weekly rubbish pick up. With it comes an expensive service with cost shifting put onto residents with council staff driving rubbish trucks weekly throughout Bendigo picking up bins that will have at least 60 per cent less rubbish.
Many residents already only put their bins out fortnightly. Council has also selected external contractors to pick up organics and have it delivered to Stanhope at a cost of over $1 million for 7 years, a whopping $7 million to be paid by residents.
The new service had an opportunity to reduce costs, reduce tonnage going to landfill and educate people to take responsibility for the waste that they produce. More importantly it provided an opportunity for council to form a partnership with residents to reduce fee rises.
In return for processing your organics on your property you could be exempted from the new service and at the same time have a reduction in your rubbish pick up fee. With units and body corporate entities a sense of community could have been promoted by bringing residents together to work out bin sharing so that small properties are not crowded with the three bin system.
As a councillor I get repeated questions about council expenditure and the need to cut costs. This is an ideal service where council and residents could work together with the added bonus of caring for our environment.
The issue is much broader and goes to the heart of why local government exists. We must work together and take bold steps for improvements.
The same scenario operates at the Eaglehawk Landfill where savings can be made if businesses and residents get more involved in finding solutions and say it is not only the responsibility of council but it is our responsibility too.