From Thursday, August 12, Lismore rural residents will experience a change in the way their garbage is collected, and some are not happy about it.

David White has been a Boat Harbour resident for almost twenty years. His rural block is just under 5 acres or around 2 hectares.

Like David and other rural residents, the waste collection routine has been a weekly red lid bin pickup and a fortnightly yellow lid bin pickup. There is no green lid bin pickup for some rural properties because of the size of the blocks of land people live on. The theory is that those owners can recycle their green waste somewhere on their property.

For David, this is the only service he receives. He has a septic tank, so no sewerage line. Water tanks, so no access to council water. "We also have a road that goes under with a drop of rain," David said.

"We look after it ourselves, burn rubbish off ourselves, and do whatever we have to with it. We get jack, basically, except for a garbage pickup."

"I would rather have weekly garbage pickup and monthly recycle pickup. That way, we won't having stinking waste in your bin. We already freeze scraps in the freezer. If you want to look at it environmentally speaking, we'll be freezing things for two weeks now, not for one week. So we don't have a stinking bin sitting outside our house for two weeks. If we bury all our scraps, including meat, we'll have all the animals in the world coming around digging it all up."

Lismore City Council told the Lismore App that waste charges depend on a number of factors, which depend on your classification Rural, Half Rural, Rural Non-Domestic, Rural Village, Rural Village Half. There are a few different classifications because a garbage truck may be driving to a village anyway, so it can pickup that type of bin as it passes.

If a resident is not receiving a pickup service near Nimbin, they will contribute to the cost of the Nimbin Transfer Station Facility.

Properties outside of the various villages that don’t have a Sewer or Water main passing the property won't get charged a levy unless the property is either connected to the main or the main passes within a certain distance to the property boundary. Then, they pay an unconnected charge. The Lismore App had not received an answer to our question as to how far from the property boundary the main needs to pass to pay the unconnected charge.

Assuming the above, there are several potential Rates and Charges options depending on whether you are classified as Rural Residential, Farmland or Business and the value of your land.

There is an On-site Sewer Charge for registered onsite systems such as a septic tank.

The reason for the upcoming change on August 12 is a move to a 'user pays' system.

We all know Lismore City Council is working its way out of an ongoing financial hole. Its aim is to operate a financially sustainable business. So, a recent and comprehensive Waste Service Review determined that Council has been subsidising the cost of disposing waste generated by the community.  

The review also highlighted that Council’s collection and disposal fees for waste were significantly lower than industry benchmarks, including neighbouring councils and not in line with Council Policy.

While Council has been undercharging for most services, the distribution of fees across the various service offerings also did not reflect the cost to provide the service, and the review identified a more appropriate alignment of fees against each service option.  

A point that is not lost on David; however, he feels that receiving less service should mean less rates and charges.

"So, all the rural customers will get less service. The only difference for us, is that that's all we get, basically. It seems completely unfair for them to give us less services when we're already getting less services," David summarised.

Every ratepayer will also be charged an extra $75 during the 2024/25 financial year. This is due to the increased cost of transporting our waste to Queensland following extensive damage to the Lismore Waste Facility in the February 2022 flood.

Lismore City Council said that residents are encouraged to compare the various waste collection service options that are available. You can make changes to your service by contacting Council directly on 02 6625 0500.

(This image can be enlarged on your mobile phone using your fingers)