FRUSTRATED Edithvale residents have slammed Kingston Council’s decision to remove bins from the beach. In August, Kingston Council announced it was moving bins along its beaches off of the sand and onto other locations along the foreshore. In a statement, it said the move would “keep our beautiful beaches clear of rubbish, particularly during the busy summer months.”
“The number of visitors to our beaches increases each year, and the existing bin system is not designed to cope with this amount of waste,” the council statement read. “To reduce rubbish left on our beaches, we are moving our bins off the sand and placing them at key points along the foreshore, including pathways and car parks, where the community can easily access them, and the trucks can empty them more often. This will enable us to increase the number of bin collections in summer and keep up with the growing demand. More collections will prevent full and overflowing bins, reduce beach litter, and improve the environment.”
Residents living near the beach say the change was sudden, and could negatively impact the environment. Edithvale Collective president Kirralee Ashworth-Collett said “we’ve been inundated with feedback from locals who are struggling to understand how this is an improvement on the previous waste management approach, and who are deeply concerned that the beach and surrounding streets are going to be awash with rubbish this summer.”
“The biggest concern is the lack of community consultation about the changes. There might very well be valid reasons for taking a different approach, but the community hasn’t been consulted in a meaningful way and that’s not good enough,” she said. “The best council decisions are informed by the knowledge and real world experience of the people directly affected by them, and this one seems to have fallen well short of that standard.”
The bin changes are part of Kingston Council’s “Bin it, or swim in it” campaign. Kingston mayor Jenna Davey-Burns said the initiative “is all about everyone taking personal responsibility for their waste, caring for our environment and ensuring our foreshore is a great place to be.” “Unfortunately, last summer we were consistently seeing people even piling large items like gazebos, tents, and chairs next to the bins on the beaches – it was really sad to see,” she said. “We are very confident that the campaign and new arrangements will significantly reduce the impact of litter and greatly improve the beach experience for everyone.”
Kingston Council says that there are 216 bins along the foreshore for its residents to use.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 9 October 2024