Top Report For Waste Disposal

Top Report For Waste Disposal

Illawarra Mercury

Friday January 5, 2007

CHALPAT SONTI

So you pay rates, but what do you get in return? A State Government report card has ranked NSW local authorities on what they provide and how well their services are used. In the final of our two-part series, CHALPAT SONTI looks at what councils spend on you and how often you take advantage of these services.

THEY'RE among the cornerstones of what we expect from our councils, but it seems we are not overly fussed about using them.

In the case of rubbish collections, that might be a good thing. The Illawarra is among the leading regions in NSW when it comes to reducing waste and recycling it, according to the State Government's Comparative Information of NSW Local Government Councils report for 2004-05.

Residents of all three local authority areas - Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama - put out well below the state average of 249kg of rubbish per person each year, while Shellharbour and Wollongong residents are among the top recyclers in NSW.

It does not cost much, either. All three are below the state average when it comes to the cost per residential property.

Shellharbour is clearly the cheapest, at $145.14 per property, although council acting general manager Peter O'Rourke said this was due to a long-term contract up for renewal next year.

The city also leads the way in the region with the amount of waste residents recycle, which at 239.94kg is the 14th highest in the state.

When it comes to that other council mainstay, public libraries, the Illawarra takes a distinctly middle-of-the-road approach.

Wollongong and Kiama residents take out about the state average number of books, and their libraries cost about what other NSW ratepayers would expect to pay.

Shellharbour, though, lags behind. Its residents are issued fewer library books, and the amount spent on its libraries is also well below par. But Mr O'Rourke said the low library expenditure was a "resourcing issue".

"They're run very efficiently. But in an ideal world we'd like to be able to commit more to libraries," he said.