- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 11 months ago by .
-
Topic
-
I live in a complex of 16 and each lot is being charged for a 120 litre bin by council in its rates, but we only have 5 (emptied twice a week) between the 16 of us. Is this legal?
-
Replies
-
Think you'll find different councils have different rules and charging regimes.
In our complex of 20 units each resident has their own bin for general waste, and we share 7 recycling bins which are collected fortnightly. With general waste, our council offers either weekly collection at one rate, or fortnightly at half that rate. Bins are identified by a different lid colour.
You haven't stated whether the 5 bins are sufficient for your complex, or whether there is room for an additional 11 bins. Perhaps it was considered by your managing agent or committee that 5 bins was enough. If each unit owner is being billed for a bin the same as all your neighbours in separate houses, don't see why you can't insist that the council provide each unit with a bin. It worked for us when council tried to institute shared bins against our wishes, get onto your local alderman if you don't get anywhere with bureaucracy.
I wouldn't complain too loudly as I think you will find you are ahead of the game anyway. Most unit blocks use the larger 240L bins (dimensions approx 105x60x75cm) rather than the smaller 120L bins households use. When you add in the fact that they are emptied twice a week (as opposed to once a week for regular households) you end up with up to 2400L of rubbish removed by the council per week. This compares to the 1920L of rubbish removal that you pay for in your rates.