# Waste tipping fees are a rip-off



## Macquack (5 July 2009)

It did not seem that long ago that tip fees were *free*.

Waste Sevices NSW have again increased the cost of tipping rubbish into a big hole.

As of 1 July 2009, to dump " Mixed construction and demolision material " at the Menai landfill site is *$200 per tonne*. 

As an example, if you are dumping concrete containing steel reinforcement (no recycling discount applies) then it becomes apparent that it is cheaper to buy ready-mix supplied concrete than it is to dump the same bloody stuff. 

Ready-mix concrete - approx. $200 per cubic metre / 2.4 tonnes(dry) per cubic metre = less than *$100 *per tonne supplied and deliver to your door step.

Concrete dumped as mixed waste - $200 per tonne x 2.4 tonnes (dry) per cubic metre = *$480*.

Either tip fees are a huge rip-off or concrete is too cheap.


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## Julia (5 July 2009)

Our local council tried this on for *green waste*which they then mulch and sell.

Not on your ***** life.  The citizenry refused to pay.  Dumped their garden waste on the side of the road.

Not long before the council reverted to free dumping of green waste.


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## pointr (6 July 2009)

Ah yes Julia a phenomenon I regulalry observe while bushwalking on firetrails. These short sighted cash grabs, when combined with slack human nature create a negative environmental impact. I think the 'price' for dumping should be built in to the purchase price, a matter of cents / sense, for household quantities. Commercial dumpers should pay and incorporate it in their business costs. There is a business in Newcastle " Concrush"??? that receives concrete waste and crushes it (duh) producing saleable aggregates, sand and steel scrap


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## Largesse (6 July 2009)

pointr said:


> Ah yes Julia a phenomenon I regulalry observe while bushwalking on firetrails. These short sighted cash grabs, when combined with slack human nature create a negative environmental impact. I think the 'price' for dumping should be built in to the purchase price, a matter of cents / sense, for household quantities. Commercial dumpers should pay and incorporate it in their business costs. There is a business in Newcastle " Concrush"??? that receives concrete waste and crushes it (duh) producing saleable aggregates, sand and steel scrap




there is such an obscene amount of money to be made in cost and environmentally efficient waste disposal.


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## Boyou (6 July 2009)

As a Landscaping contractor,I frequently have to use council waste dumps and am amazed how much the charges are escalating.

So much so,I am required to check fee schedules on at least a monthly basis to avoid underquoting for that component in my job estimates.

Intel about free or low charging waste disposal sites which take clean fill or concrete/rubble is a very jealously guarded secret among those in my game...almost like the best fishing spots are horded by anglers! 

I see more and more illegal dumping going on ..Council must be factoring the cleanup costs for this into their fee schedule.... think it's called risk management 

Cheers Ya''ll


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## adobee (3 December 2009)

Not sure if tip Fees in Sydney have gone up recently but the amount of crap being tipped around the boat ramps i frequent is crazy.. this is really poor form.. I am sure some of this is Firberous Aspestos too !  Some serious council attention is required !


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## Boyou (3 December 2009)

Another worrying trend in waste disposal is the reluctance of councils to take hazardous chemicals like paints,solvents and cleaning products

Here in Bris the only way to dispose of them legally is to bring these chemicals along to a specified waste transfer station on a specified day.And ,as I found out, there are only a couple of opportunities to do that each year.

I hold mine and wait for those days..but how many lazy/impatient citizens just decide to take the easy way out and dump illegally or,worse still , hold onto them in their garden sheds or garages in rusting /leaking containers? 

Councils have to be more realistic about these items.I know there are WPHS issues involved here ,but this situation is not tenable


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## prawn_86 (3 December 2009)

Boyou said:


> Another worrying trend in waste disposal is the reluctance of councils to take hazardous chemicals like paints,solvents and cleaning products
> 
> Here in Bris the only way to dispose of them legally is to bring these chemicals along to a specified waste transfer station on a specified day.And ,as I found out, there are only a couple of opportunities to do that each year.
> 
> ...




Put them in your wheelie bin at the bottom then its not ur problem.


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## Boyou (3 December 2009)

Ahh.."The not my problem" solution!

That's what I do with my smelly prawn shells..


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## prawn_86 (3 December 2009)

Well i agree with you, if councils want to be annoying/unrealistic about it then they can deal with it.

By definition most laws are subject to a 'reasonable person' basis so if anything was to happen you could argue that a reasonable person cant be expected to attend on minimal days a year to dump their chemicals.


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## Boyou (3 December 2009)

Yes ,that is a way out ,if it comes to the courts

Perhaps a more positive approach is for good citizens like ourselves to make representations to council to have the situation changed..the pro-active aproach..is that the aussie way though?

Not much use whingeing about it on a stock forum..I'm going to write to my local alderperson ..soon..promise


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## derty (3 December 2009)

Well out here in Kalgoorlie the tip is free for domestic waste. Industrial waste occurs a charge but in comparison it is low. 

If they charged for dumping at the tip then half the waste would just be dumped in the surrounding bush. Especially when some people still dump in the bush as they can't be ar$ed to drive across town to a free tip.


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## wildkactus (3 December 2009)

I think tips are a thing of the past what the real question here is why are we not recycling more of the waste material we generate,
if tips were converted into waste recycling centers and no charges were levied to dump waste at them the council or individual I'm sure would cover costs and make a profit, its this whole attitude to dump it and forget that is the problem not the fees.

here in Hong Kong we are going to run out of landfill places by 2020, so then we will be forced to make big changes, to the amount of material we waste, this will be hard to change in a city that wastes more per capita then any where else on the planet, but then we do have a lot of land next door to use!


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## Smurf1976 (3 December 2009)

prawn_86 said:


> Put them in your wheelie bin at the bottom then its not ur problem.



I think it would be safe to assume this is what the majority of people would do. Either that or pour liquids straight down the drain.


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## Julia (3 December 2009)

wildkactus said:


> if tips were converted into waste recycling centers and no charges were levied to dump waste at them the council or individual I'm sure would cover costs and make a profit, its this whole attitude to dump it and forget that is the problem not the fees.
> 
> !



This is what happens where I live.  All green waste is accepted free and it's all converted to mulch and sold at a profit.
A while ago, when the Council was strapped for cash, they introduced a fee for dropping off green waste.  There was widespread protest and much dumping on the sides of roads.  It didn't take long for them to withdraw the fee.

At the same site, there's a large recycling plant for non-green waste.
It all works very efficiently.


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## surf73 (4 December 2009)

My uncle in Holland saw a great opportunity a few years ago.

In Holland, the farmers had to pay to dispose of manure because the soil was saturated with it.
About 100km away the Germans were having to buy manure for their crop farms.

Basically - he got a few trucks and made a fortune getting the Dutch to pay him to take their S**t and then getting the Germans to pay him for it.


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## Macquack (10 April 2011)

Julia said:


> This is what happens where I live.  All green waste is accepted *free* and it's all converted to mulch and sold at a profit.
> A while ago, when the Council was strapped for cash, they introduced a fee for dropping off green waste.  There was widespread protest and much dumping on the sides of roads.  It didn't take long for them to withdraw the fee.




Cut down a tree in Narrabeen (Sydney), took 5 loads of mainly foliage to the privately run and only tip in the area (Kimbriki), received the "laughable" discount for "green waste" of $110 per tonne *and am now $500 poorer*.

Now I can buy back the same tree as wood chip/mulch for:- 
Roughly 4.5 tonnes of tree would make 15 cubic metres of mulch @ $30 if you pick it up from the tip = approximately $450.

So for chipping up/ mulching 1 lousy tree, these *rip off merchants* make almost *$1000*.

I think it is time to move out of the big smoke, it is choking me to death.


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## tech/a (10 April 2011)

Agree its a rip off.

BUT
Concrete can be taken to re cycler's even with steel in it and its $8 a tonne here.
Call in a mulcher to chew up your trees its cheaper.

Clean fill is a problem for us at $15/tonne to dump.
But if your the government or council they have their own spoil dumps for their landfill.
We pay to drop landfill in their dumps for their re establishment.


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## moXJO (10 April 2011)

Macquack said:


> Cut down a tree in Narrabeen (Sydney), took 5 loads of mainly foliage to the privately run and only tip in the area (Kimbriki), received the "laughable" discount for "green waste" of $110 per tonne *and am now $500 poorer*.
> 
> Now I can buy back the same tree as wood chip/mulch for:-
> Roughly 4.5 tonnes of tree would make 15 cubic metres of mulch @ $30 if you pick it up from the tip = approximately $450.
> ...




I know down my way they added an environmental levy on dumping scrap. I had the back of my ute modestly loaded up (Holden rodeo) and it ended up costing 70 bucks. The same load 6 or so years ago was $13 at the same tip. I'm glad I deal with mostly scrap metal in my work.


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## drsmith (10 April 2011)

Macquack said:


> So for chipping up/ mulching 1 lousy tree, these *rip off merchants* make almost *$1000*.
> 
> I think it is time to move out of the big smoke, it is choking me to death.



Do you have bulk rubbish collections ?

If worst comes to worst and your block is big enough, a few beers around the bonfire is an option once the smaller stuff has dried out a bit (Disclaimer: Not during the fire season though).


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## Garpal Gumnut (10 April 2011)

Macquack said:


> Cut down a tree in Narrabeen (Sydney), took 5 loads of mainly foliage to the privately run and only tip in the area (Kimbriki), received the "laughable" discount for "green waste" of $110 per tonne *and am now $500 poorer*.
> 
> Now I can buy back the same tree as wood chip/mulch for:-
> Roughly 4.5 tonnes of tree would make 15 cubic metres of mulch @ $30 if you pick it up from the tip = approximately $450.
> ...




Sounds like socialism mate.

Who's yer Councillor, a Green Watermelon or an ALP?

gg


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## Macquack (10 April 2011)

Garpal Gumnut said:


> Sounds like socialism mate.
> 
> Who's yer Councillor, a Green Watermelon or an ALP?
> 
> gg




No socialism here mate, this is Tony Abbott country, Warringah Council on the "Insular Peninsula". 

All "blue collar" workers commute in everyday from the western suburbs to service the "silvertails".


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## Julia (10 April 2011)

Macquack, I don't know if it would work for your situation, but I got really sick of traipsing out to the tip every weekend.

Instead get two green bins instead of one (costs about $300 p.a. extra) and do the pruning week by week, always filling both bins.

Hugely better solution than all the loading up of prunings, driving out to tip, and paying the charges.


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## Smurf1976 (10 April 2011)

Julia said:


> Macquack, I don't know if it would work for your situation, but I got really sick of traipsing out to the tip every weekend.
> 
> Instead get two green bins instead of one (costs about $300 p.a. extra) and do the pruning week by week, always filling both bins.
> 
> Hugely better solution than all the loading up of prunings, driving out to tip, and paying the charges.



Seems like I'm fairly lucky here. Council takes any green waste for no charge. Just put it out in any bin or other container that someone can lift, and they come and collect it on the normal garbage day once every 4 weeks. Obviously I'm paying for that indirectly through rates, but I'm not complaining.


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## Macquack (16 September 2012)

An update on the *absolute rort that is dumping of rubbish in Sydney NSW*.

In December 2010, the inept NSW Labor Government sold off (gave away) all of its waste management facilities to a foreign company (SITA Environmental Services) owned 60% by *French* company “*Suez Environnement S.A*.” and 40% by *Singaporean* company “*Sembcorp Industries*”. This *foreign rip-off* company with the help of NSW Treasurer at the time (Eric Roozendaal) payed peanuts for a virtual monoply.

Anyone with a brain knows a monoply can charge what ever they feel like and SITA has proceeded to do such.

Current charges to dump “dry waste” at Chullora is a *whooping $275 per ton*.

*Furthermore this foreign rip-off company’s total fixation on profits and entire disregard for the health of Sydneysiders is allowing “asbestos” to be dumped with all other general waste with no special treatment whatsoever.*

I recently did the right thing and took 1.78 tons of asbestos to be ‘properly disposed” of at the Lucas Heights land fill site and was instructed to dump the asbestos in the same area as all other garbage waste at the *extortionate charge of $450 per ton *costing me an *outrageous $800*.

*This foreign rip-off company (SITA) is an invader and needs to be sent packing.*

All other states be warned as *this scam is coming your way* if it is not already there.


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## Samii (15 February 2017)

Sita suez is a ripoff.
I can't understand why still in business.
They charge for recycling materials dry waste. The highest.
And our council wonder why people do illegal dumping.
Would be a good  idea to run a campaign maybe a Facebook page to expose these people and put them out of business??? 


Macquack said:


> An update on the *absolute rort that is dumping of rubbish in Sydney NSW*.
> 
> In December 2010, the inept NSW Labor Government sold off (gave away) all of its waste management facilities to a foreign company (SITA Environmental Services) owned 60% by *French* company “*Suez Environnement S.A*.” and 40% by *Singaporean* company “*Sembcorp Industries*”. This *foreign rip-off* company with the help of NSW Treasurer at the time (Eric Roozendaal) payed peanuts for a virtual monoply.
> 
> ...


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## Samii (15 February 2017)

Any other option other than Sita?


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