Collection a council mess

THE City of Casey has released its commercial waste strategy for shopping centres and this will soon go on public exhibition.
Waste collection in commercial centres, particularly in Berwick Village, has been a thorn in my side for years.
Since local government was restructured more than 10 years ago, Berwick Village has become a mess.
The former City of Berwick provided an excellent collection service, but under the local government restructure councillors took the view that commercial garbage collection was not a council responsibility.
This strategy was totally wrong.
The report placed before the council on Tuesday 6 September had nothing in it not already well known to business people.
It is long on suggestions and short on leadership.
The report said, however, that: “The council has a role to play in providing waste and recycling services to small and mediumsized enterprises.”
My view is that Berwick Village is in danger of receiving a council collection service without eliminating the hotch potch of trucks now coming into the village to collect what they can from an array of bins placed anywhere that traders can find a spot.
The village was chosen for a pilot program that supposedly had the aim of leading to a onecollector service, but cooperation between all parties was minimal, if at all, and council support was very ordinary.
The trial was doomed from the start and failed accordingly.
Under the present system we have a range of trucks coming into the village and in many cases rubbish spilled on the ground is left.
Unless the council takes complete control of commercial garbage collection the village will remain in a mess.
The council must provide a daily, early morning collection service, including Saturday mornings, or the mess is destined to continue.
Bins need to be given specific areas.
Opportunity also exists for waste bins to be dressed up, perhaps with a little coloured paint and even the business services provided in the village listed on them.
Berwick Village has been earmarked for a major face uplift said to make it equally as attractive as any village in the world.
This plan could be tarnished if the commercial garbage collection is not properly managed.
The Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce needs to give this report its utmost attention in order to be sure that the village receives an effective and clean collection service totally overseen by the council.
If it can work well in Berwick it can work well in other centres.