Not all rural areas are able to be provided with a kerbside collection service due to the cost to provide this service.
You may place these items in your recycling bin:
Damaged and stolen bins will be replaced free of charge at
the service by contacting the Waste Hotline on 1800 312 934.
If your bin has been stolen, you will be asked to provide a police incident number.
Contact the Waste Hotline on 1800 312 934 to arrange pick-up within the next 24 hours.
You may arrange an additional bin for your property.
An additional pro-rata collection fee will be added to your rates . This is $340 for Domestic Waste, and/or $140 for Recycling for the 2019/20 financial year.
Download the Kerbside Waste & Recycling Service application form
The kerbside collection is for residents with a kerbside
garbage bin service in:
Council is unable to offer vouchers as the waste levy has to be paid to the Environment Protection Authority on all waste that enters the waste facility. Council is unable to subside this cost. Free vouchers also do not encourage residents to sort and separate waste, resulting in excessive amounts of recyclables being landfilled reducing the life of the landfill.
Residential waste disposal ticket books for residents without kerbside waste
collection are available from waste management facilities.
Three tickets books are available. Tickets are only valid during the financial year they were purchased.
Disposal of waste to the local waste management facility does cost more than using a kerbside waste collection. Further details on why the costs are different is provided below.
Kerbside collected waste is taken to Muswellbrook Waste
Recycling Facility where it is weighed. The waste levy of $81.30 is
applied to the cost of disposal which is paid by the contractor.
This
cost is passed on to Council in its contract with the contractor and Council
passes on the cost of the contract to ratepayers in the waste fees included on
the rates notice.
This cost is calculated at a rate per service (i.e. one general 240L waste mobile garbage bin and one 240L recycling mobile garbage bin). As the cost per service is calculated over a long term (approx. 10 to 14 years depending on the contract), on average bin weights and includes economies of scale for transportation, the cost of kerbside collection (general waste and recycling) to ratepayers in 2017/18 was $535.60. Residents with kerbside collection cannot opt in or out of the service and pay the same amount no matter how much waste they dispose of.
If a resident was to take one 240L mobile garbage bins (MGBs) to the Scone Waste Facility which has a weighbridge they would be charged for the weight of the material in the bins at $245 per tonne (2018/19 financial year) for general mixed residential waste which will vary depending on the types of material in the load. Of this $81.30 per tonne is EPA waste levy. An MGB filled with recycling is accepted free of charge.
At a non-weighbridge site (Merriwa, Murrurundi and Aberdeen) one 240L mobile garbage bins (MGB) with general mixed residential waste will cost $15.00 (2018/19 financial year). The EPA’s deemed weight for a 240L MGB is 0.06T at $81.30 per tonne. This equates to $4.88 per bin. An MGB filled with recycling is accepted free of charge.
If you were to take a 240L MGB with mixed waste weekly and a second filled with recycling fortnightly (equivalent to the kerbside service) to a non-weighed waste facility for a year, this would cost you $780.00 (52 x $15 for the general waste as recycling is free) of which $253.76 is paid to the EPA as waste levy. A yearly ticket for 52 x 240L MGBs of general waste and one box trailer of waste may be purchased from Council for $600. MGBS filled with recycling are accepted for free.
It is important to ensure that you sort and separate your recyclables from your
load to ensure that they can be disposed of for free. Also make sure that
the remaining load of mixed waste fills your bin, trailer or vehicle as Council
is not able to legally charge for part of a load. If you are unsure about
this, contact Council first on 6540 1100.
Waste Management Facilities are situated at Scone, Aberdeen,
Murrurundi, Merriwa and Cassilis.
Waste Management Facilities
Council is currently reviewing the waste services to be offered at each waste management facility and will be updating the current Waste Management Strategy. During this review it will be decided where additional weighbridges are required and economically feasible.
Asbestos can be disposed of at Aberdeen Waste Management Facility. Asbestos is not be accepted at Scone, Merriwa, Murrurundi or Cassilis.
Asbestos must be wet down and completely encased in heavy plastic in manageable sizes and sealed so no asbestos can escape.
The Waste Management Facility must be notified at least 24hr prior to bringing asbestos into the site.
Council requires a handling fee to be paid in addition to
the normal disposal costs.
Disposing of Asbestos Waste
Small animals (dog/cat/sheep/goat/pig) will be accepted at Scone and Aberdeen Waste Management Facilities.
Large
animals (cattle/horses) will only be accepted at Aberdeen Waste Management
Facility.
A call out fee applies for after-hours service.
To sell or give mulch away mulch to the public Council is
legally obliged to ensure that the mulch is free from weeds, pests and disease
as well has have stringent risk control measures in place.
As Councils source green / garden waste from
a number of sources, material is often processed into compost to remove weeds,
pests and diseases prior to sale.
Upper Hunter Shire Council does not have a composting facility.
The Protection of the Environment (Operations) Act requires certain licensed waste facilities in NSW to pay a contribution for each tonne received at the facility. Referred to as the 'waste levy', the contribution aims to reduce the amount of waste being landfilled and promote recycling and resource recovery.
The waste levy applies in the regulated area of NSW which comprises the Sydney metropolitan area, the Illawarra and Hunter regions, the central and north coast local government areas to the Queensland border as well as the Blue Mountains, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly local government areas.
Upper Hunter Shire Council is located within the Regional Levy Area which attracts a waste levy of $81.30 (2018/19). In line with the Waste Regulation, the 2019–20 waste levy rates will again increase by Consumer Price Index (CPI) only.
Residents can take simple actions to reduce their fees at Upper Hunter Shire Waste Management Facilities.
You could halve the cost of rubbish disposal by separating recyclables and other materials, and only taking a full load to waste depots in Aberdeen, Merriwa and Murrurundi.
Council pays a waste levy to the EPA to all waste material brought into the facility. Council also has to pay to have green / garden waste processed to be used on the site. The fee covers the cost of the levy and processing.
Mulch cannot be legally taken off site or sold unless it complies with the Mulch Order 2016 which for Council means that the green / garden waste has to be composted to EPA standards. Upper Hunter Shire council currently does not have a composting facilities for green / garden waste.
The contracts for all waste and recycling services across the Upper Hunter Shire will expire on the 4 July 2018. These existing contracts have been in place for many years, some existing prior to the amalgamation of the Shire in 2004.
Over the past twelve months Council has been working with Muswellbrook to find a suitable contractor to service both areas. This has required a tender process to be completed.
The new contract reflects the current costs associated with waste collection and changes occurring within the recycling industry.
The 2018/19 review of the fees and charges being applied to waste highlighted that some of the fees relating to vehicles entering the non-weighbridge sites were not covering the cost of the waste levy. This is mostly due to the deemed weights applied by the EPA for the waste levy.
In effect Council and hence ratepayers are subsidising the use of the non-weighbridge waste facilities, in particular by Commercial operators. This situation is not sustainable and over time has created a shortfall in waste revenue that is used to enable site improvements and upgrades.
The 2018/19 Fees and Charges contain increases to these fees plus other changes, both increases and decreases. These changes were made to; ensure that fees were equitable between the weighed WMF and non-weighed WMFs (to minimise customers transportation of waste to non-weighed sites within the LGA), equitable with adjoining Councils (to minimise transportation from outside the LGA), to encourage behaviour change in the community in particular to sort loads for recycling, to simplify the Fees and Charges structure and enable compliance with EPA reporting requirements.
The fees structure is now based as follows: waste that goes to landfill incurs a premium fee, waste that can be processed for reuse incurs a lower fee and recyclables are received for free.
Rural residents that do not receive kerbside waste collection pay an ‘environmental waste control’ fee on the rates notice. This fee covers the cost of education, advertising, cleaning sites of litter and illegal dumping and other activities that are not part of normal domestic waste collection and disposal.
The Protection of the Environment (Operations) Act requires certain licensed waste facilities in NSW to pay a contribution for each tonne received at the facility. Referred to as the 'waste levy', the contribution aims to reduce the amount of waste being landfilled and promote recycling and resource recovery.
The waste levy applies in the regulated area of NSW which comprises the Sydney metropolitan area, the Illawarra and Hunter regions, the central and north coast local government areas to the Queensland border as well as the Blue Mountains, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly local government areas.
Upper Hunter Shire Council is located within the Regional Levy Area which attracts a waste levy of $81.30 (2018/19). In line with the Waste Regulation, the 2019–20 waste levy rates will again increase by Consumer Price Index (CPI) only.
The Recycle Shop is not designed to compete with other charity shops. It is intended as a last resort for reusable items to be removed from the waste stream before going to landfill.
As residents cannot drop items for free, Council recommends that residents take items that may be resold to a charity shop first for consideration.
Upper Hunter Shire Council is a local government authority and provides an extensive array of services including health and building; town planning; aged care; sporting and recreational facilities; roads; libraries; waste collection; airport facilities; saleyards; public venues; water; children, youth and families and tourist information.
Upper Hunter Shire is located in the Hunter Region of NSW, approximately 250km north of Sydney. The Shire is predominantly rural and encompasses 8,100km2.
We have a COVID-19 Safety Plan and are committed to keeping you safe.
PO Box 208
Scone NSW 2337
Phone: 02 6540 1100
Fax: 02 6545 2671
council@upperhunter.nsw.gov.au
135 Liverpool Street, Scone
34-40 Vennacher Street, Merriwa
47 Mayne Street, Murrurundi
After hours emergencies for roads, bridges, animal control,
water, sewer & landfill
Phone: 02 6540 1199
Ngayan marrungku paran wiyan Wanarruwa, mirumalikan para ani parraykupa, ngatan ngayan marrung wiyan Ngarrakay paranpa yurakaykal ngatan pangaykal.
We acknowledge the Wonnarua people, traditional keepers of this land, and we pay respects to their Elders, past and present.
Translation by Aunty Sharon Edgar-Jones.