Clean break for a messy situation

TWO organisations, the City of Casey and the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce, have a responsibility in the existence of and for cleaning up the untidy and stinking mess of garbage in the Berwick shopping precinct.
I parked in the northside car park on Monday evening to attend a meeting that would discuss commercial garbage collection, opened the car door and was hit with the stink of rotting food.
Ugly bins in the area were flowing over and rubbish was scattered around.
For years, 90 per cent of business people in the village have ignored meetings held to discuss garbage problems and for years the council has claimed it was not a council responsibility.
Well, it is everyone’s responsibility.
A wise old Chinese gentleman said: “If every man sweeps in front of his own house then the village is clean.”
But every man does not.
Casey Council has this week accepted responsibility for the job of cleaning up the Berwick precinct and will introduce a central stateoftheart commercial garbage collection service (See Page 1).
But, this is dependent on acceptance by business people.
Berwick Village commercial operators will be given one last chance to clean up the commercial garbage mess in the shopping centre, but this time with support and cooperation from the council.
I absolutely endorse this decision, except that My view is that it should be introduced under executive decision.
Chamber of Commerce members were on Monday night told that a councilmanaged collection system would come under a special charge.
This follows years of lobbying by the chamber and a $40,000 consultant’s report on commercial waste in the City of Casey.
However, Casey manager of engineering services David Richardson said the chamber and council would face difficulty introducing the proposed scheme.
He said it was dependent on business support, but generally business hasn’t supported anything when it comes to garbage — they just chuck it out.
So be it, let’s do the hard yards and get something done.
We’ve had large bins run loose, one worn out garbage truck run amok and a conglomeration of garbage trucks in the village at any time.
We are lucky that we haven’t had someone badly injured or killed.
Edrington Ward councillors Mick Morland and Brian Hetherton expressed strong support for the Berwick plan and they should each come out firing both barrels until it is instituted.
Cr Morland said the only problem was live contracts between business houses and various waste collectors.
He said a situation could emerge where a business was paying the council rate, plus a charge under a signed contract with a contractor, but everyone knew there had to be and would be changes so why did they take on the contracts?
Cr Morland said rationalisation of commercial garbage collection had to happen and that Berwick Village was the place to do it.
“The present situation is messy and dangerous,” he said.
Cr Hetherton said he had listened to criticism about the untidy mess in Berwick Village for a long time.
“The village looks disgraceful and we have only one option to tidy it up.
“If this plan is not accepted this time it will never be applied again.
“Traders have to consider whether or not they want their shopping precinct cleaned up and improved.
“This is not a large cost scheme.
“Getting this part of the business sector cleaned up could be a strong marketing progam for business.
“Residents deserve this mess to be cleaned up.
“We have a chance — for heaven’s sake take it,” he said.
For heaven’s sake listen to the councillor’s advice.