Thread: Demise of local tips

Our local tip has a section for recycling that is privately run. The guy that runs it sells stuff really cheap, eg milk crates are $2ea, working electrical appliances are about $5 etc.
He makes a living and we don't have to sort through all the ????e.
On the subject of charges, we have to pay $100 PA for the tip, PLUS $100 for roadside bin service but have the choice of no roadside service and 4 free passes per year.
The recycle wheelie bin service is chucked in free with the roadside rubbish service.

Our gate is only 100 metres from the house, but we discovered a long time ago that the handle of the wheelie bin drops neatly over the tow ball and it travels really well behind the car or the ute )

Although I di miss rumaging through the old tip, at least I go home with lees that I take nowdays )

1. Write to the local paper, stating much as you have above. The cost of an enclosed area for 'putrescables' for burial (& to keep ferals out) would not be that much.

2. Ask how many others don't like it, and offer to run for the local council against the current mob - who are likely townies & have buisnesses where they can avoid any personal financial damage from the extra charges. See if you can get a few other locals to stand up & say they'll run too.

I'd suggest that if the entrenched local councilors look like loosing their perks - free computers & internet access, free cars or fuel, overseas trips etc. by being ejected next election, the dump may just stay open as it is.

There is an organisation in Sydney called 'Reverse Garbage Truck' that runs at least 2 location that I know of. Basically businesses take their surplus materials - end of bolts/rolls of materials, clean empty containers, off cuts, old machinery bits - to the depot, the depot puts it in bins (often supplied by the company dropping stuff off) and let people come in and take away stuff at a small fee - usually $10 a big bag. Kindergarten & craft groups love it.

All you need is an empty warehouse/shed & someone to watch it - say like the local tip bloke, who would otherwise be out of a job.

When We first moved into our house we discovered that the vendor had left behind a shed full of rubbish. It took me about five trailer-loads to the tip to get rid of it. This sounds simple enough, but the local tip was run by a tip nazi, who went through the rubbish you were carrying and shook his head in dismay that you were dumping this stuff on him.

I was as polite as I could be to this fellow, as he basically indicated that his tip was too good for my rubbish, but I could leave it here "this time" if I carefully sifted through it and carefully placed it in specific places as his direction and if I saluted whenever he asked me to....

But he lost me when he picked up an insert from an old chair that was among my rubbish and told me that it would not be accepted at the tip. Apparently it was filled with horse hair or something, and that particular depot would not accept such stuff. I asked what I might do with this item, so low in the scheme of things that it was rejected by a tip, and he told me ... wait for it ...


"take it home and put it in your wheelie bin...."

We still have the local council tip (in fact we live between two of them), and its manned by a contractor during business hours 5 days a week. When the contract came up for renewal some years back I seriously thought of putting in a bid! I must say its pretty well sorted out, with designated areas for dumping metals, green waste, builders waste, sump oil, bottles etc. The dump-meister gets to scrounge and recycle but is quite militant about anyone else grabbing stuff, regardless if he wants it or not . Unfortunately there are no sales of items, no "shop" like there is in Toowoomba...but come weekends its open and unmanned!!
Of course we have the choice of curbside collection, at an extra cost, but needless to say I do a fortnightly dump-run, and tend to visit the dump on weekends . You know, make a deposit, do a few judicious withdrawals, liberate some resource... with the predictable "What have you dragged home this time?" from the trouble and strife!
Hopefully the dump will stay this way, at least untill the area becomes suburbia.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Andy Mac

We still have the local council tip (in fact we live between two of them), and its manned by a contractor during business hours 5 days a week. When the contract came up for renewal some years back I seriously thought of putting in a bid! I must say its pretty well sorted out, with designated areas for dumping metals, green waste, builders waste, sump oil, bottles etc. The dump-meister gets to scrounge and recycle but is quite militant about anyone else grabbing stuff, regardless if he wants it or not . Unfortunately there are no sales of items, no "shop" like there is in Toowoomba...but come weekends its open and unmanned!!


Cheers,

hah is that the Geham tip, in recent times scourged by the workplace health and safety mod and resplendant with NO SCAVENGING signs, fine $1500.

Rosco the dump guy was always pretty cool, would let you scavenge if you asked him first and he made sure no council boffins were around. He alos sells the good stuff he collects on saturday mornings at the refrigeration yard in crows nest, hin hint..;-)

i did score lots of good wood from there at one stage.

Ravensbourne tip is screwed cost they have banned dumping anything cept household waste whilst they put in security cameras, so no good stuff, no green waste and they installed the switch boxes for the cameras this week..

Originally Posted by Andy Mac

We still have the local council tip (in fact we live between two of them), and its manned by a contractor during business hours 5 days a week. When the contract came up for renewal some years back I seriously thought of putting in a bid! I must say its pretty well sorted out, with designated areas for dumping metals, green waste, builders waste, sump oil, bottles etc. The dump-meister gets to scrounge and recycle but is quite militant about anyone else grabbing stuff, regardless if he wants it or not . Unfortunately there are no sales of items, no "shop" like there is in Toowoomba...but come weekends its open and unmanned!!
Of course we have the choice of curbside collection, at an extra cost, but needless to say I do a fortnightly dump-run, and tend to visit the dump on weekends . You know, make a deposit, do a few judicious withdrawals, liberate some resource... with the predictable "What have you dragged home this time?" from the trouble and strife!
Hopefully the dump will stay this way, at least untill the area becomes suburbia.

Cheers,

I've spent a few hours at the Toowoomba one. It was run by a fellow named "Jack", who is a bit of a character. There is a lot of fun in looking through all of the junk at the tip. But it's a bit like the metal recyling depots. They've banned people from looking through the metal because of public liability.

My son is doing his best to keep the tradition of the local tip alive...without even leaving his bedroom.

Originally Posted by Gumby

My son is doing his best to keep the tradition of the local tip alive...without even leaving his bedroom.

Gumby, I don't know how old he is, but my son's room was the same. He now has kids of his own and goes off at them for having such a mess in their room

I just smirk and do my best not to tell the grandkids

So, give it time and you can smirk too.

I can give you a long list of things to try to improve him, but I won't bother, none of them worked for us!

Originally Posted by Gumby

My son is doing his best to keep the tradition of the local tip alive...without even leaving his bedroom.

Maybe my daughter and your son should compare notes .
I refuse to enter the daughters room for fear of some lurking predator sinking its teeth into my leg.
Consequenlty the air conditioner in her room remains in a non working condition.
I will fix it on the condition that the room is tidied up, so far no deal.

Kev

Originally Posted by Gumby

My son is doing his best to keep the tradition of the local tip alive...without even leaving his bedroom.

My daughters have succeeded
Raise you one daughter and see your son

We consider ourselves lucky that we had two girls out of six and no boys out of 2 that cleaned up their rooms... the 2 that did though have moved out along with another one and one of the boys so the toxisity of their rooms has been eliminated Now for the rest of them!!