Over 1300 on-call household clean-ups from flood affected residents

TWO weeks after the flooding event that devastated many Illawarra residents, Wollongong City Council will end its free additional clean-up service this afternoon (5pm Friday 19 April).

Council and its waste contractor, Remondis have worked in partnership to offer one free additional household clean-up to flood impacted residents after the rain event on Saturday 6 April.

To date, Council have received over 1300 requests for additional, on-call household cleanups from flood affected residents. More than 780 of these residential cleanups have been completed and Council is working its way through the remainder of the bookings.

The mammoth effort has seen more than 2600 tonnes of additional flood waste enter landfill.

To achieve this, Council and Remondis have been working Monday to Sunday to meet the demand for additional, on-call household cleanups for flood-impacted residents.

Council says with the demand for the additional collection service for flood waste easing, it will not be taking any new bookings after 5pm today (Friday 19 April).

Residents not impacted by floods can continue to book their standard on-call household cleanups (up to two per year) as usual, through the Wollongong Waste website and App.

With fewer visits to Whytes Gully tip (the Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park) occurring the fee waiver for flood affected general waste and green waste will end 4pm Sunday 21 April. From Monday, Council’s normal fees will be applied for flood affected waste minus the NSW Government EPA Waste Levy.

A Council spokesperson said during the next few weeks, it will continue to support flood impacted residents on a case-by-case basis. Flood impacted residents who need additional support should contact Council on (02) 4227 7111 and it take into account individual needs.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said that the free additional service and waiver of fees were coming to an end, as the city approached the two week mark since the Saturday 6 April floods.

 “Council’s crews and Remondis have worked hard to help residents impacted by floods get rid of their waste responsibly,”he said.

“Remondis ramped up their normal weekday waste collection service and Council crews have worked daily to meet the demand for help.

“While we have completed a large number of collections, we are still working our way through the rest of the bookings, and this will take some time. “We thank our community for their continued support and patience. Please know that we’re prioritising cleanup and repair work around the community based on need. If you’ve booked in a collection or have contacted Council for our support, we’ll be getting in touch with you in the coming days to let you know where we’re at with your request.

“This free additional, on-call household cleanup service is coming to an end this Friday, almost two weeks on from the weather event, as we’re now reaching the point where we’re seeing residents put out waste for clean-up that’s not flood affected.

“This behaviour isn’t on as it slows our ability to help those in actual need and uses up valuable air space at our waste facility. From Friday afternoon, we will be returning to business as usual with our on-call household cleanups for Wollongong residents. Residents not impacted by floods can still book their yearly on-call cleanup through the Wollongong Waste website and you’ll be given a scheduled cleanup day.”

Council is also undertaking urgent cleanup and repair work of local roads and footpaths.

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