Southern Grampians households face $209 fines under council’s three-strike bin crackdown

Aussie households could be slugged $209 for repeatedly putting the wrong items in their bins under a new three-strike crackdown from a local council.

The Southern Grampians Shire Council, in western Victoria, has approved a new policy targeting residents who keep contaminating their recycling and food waste bins.

There will be no fine for first offences, with households instead receiving a sticker showing what should not have been put in their bin.

If repeated, the council will make direct contact and issue a second warning sticker.

But the council has said repeat offenders could also lose their normal recycling and food waste collection services.

In an online statement, the council said contamination was driving up disposal and processing costs, with incorrectly sorted waste capable of contaminating an entire truckload, and affecting residents who carefully sorted their waste.

Southern Grampians Shire mayor Dennis Heslin said most residents were doing the right thing, but some households were still failing to comply.

“Because waste services are paid for by ratepayers, contamination drives up costs and means everyone pays the price for a few doing the wrong thing,” Mr Heslin said.

“We want to reduce as much contamination as possible so that 100 per cent of our green waste can be repurposed into usable compost and put back into the ground to grow again.”

The policy would not be enforced right away, with a six-month grace period giving residents time to adjust to the rules and get their bins right.

The Southern Grampians Shire Council covers an area of 6654 square kilometres some 290km west of Melbourne, encompassing the towns of Hamilton, Coleraine, Dunkeld, Penshurst, Balmoral, Cavendish, Glenthompson, Branxholme, Byaduk, and Tarrington, among others.

Originally published as Southern Grampians households face $209 fines under council’s three-strike bin crackdown