A council has sparked outrage after telling residents to freeze their Christmas food scraps before throwing them in the bin.
Sydney’s Inner-West City Council posted a video on Facebook instructing locals that this is the best way to stop their bins from smelling.
“Pack your shrimp and waste in a bag, put it in the freezer and the day before noon, put your freezer bag of food waste in the green bin and put it outside,” local resident Katie Green said in the clip.
‘That is an odour-, fly- and maggot-free way to deal with your waste.’
But the advice has not gone down well with ratepayers, who have been furiously complaining since October after the council cut general waste collections to once every fortnight as part of environmental and cost-saving measures.
“2023 and we keep trash in our freezer, how ridiculous,” one user wrote.
Another said: ‘The Inner West council was causing pest outbreaks due to a lack of red bin collection.
“I can’t wait for the seafood frenzy of the 2023 Christmas celebrations. Happy maggot season!” Anther said.
A third wrote: ‘If you’re tripping over the bins on the streets, the bins not being collected, the rubbish strewn everywhere – i.e. food waste falling onto the streets when the bins are collected, it’s hardly the homeowners’ fault.’
The Council has rolled out its new FOGO (Food Organic Garden Organics) bins in a bid to encourage residents to dispose of their food waste separately as part of efforts to reduce waste.
The green waste bins for organic waste are still collected weekly, but the biweekly collection of red household waste has in some cases overflowed the waste and attracted rats and maggots.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne defended the council’s decision, saying the measure would allow the council to better manage waste.
The fortnightly collection of red general waste has in some cases caused the waste to overflow and attract rats and maggots (photo)
The Council has rolled out its new FOGO (Food Organic Garden Organics) bins in a bid to encourage residents to dispose of their food waste separately as part of efforts to reduce waste
‘We have already saved 700 tonnes of food waste converted into compost, which is much more than we expected. Residents receive the same number of collections,” Mr Byrne said The Daily Telegraph.
A council spokesman acknowledged there were issues with the rollout of the waste programme, but said it was an important step to help protect the environment.
“Preventing food and yard waste from landfills is the biggest thing we can do as a community to help combat climate change,” he said.
The NSW Government has committed more than $15 million over five years to help organizations such as councils reduce waste under the Regional Coordination Support Program.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Inner West Council for comment.
The council’s new FOGO bins are pictured
