Cr Alex Kuskoff said that since the scheme started there had been a noticeable decrease in the amount of cans and bottles littering our streets and parks, but unfortunately “we were seeing new issues”.
“I have received numerous enquiries and complaints from residents concerned about people who are rummaging through their bins to collect bottles and cans,” he said.
“Some residents feel this is an invasion of their privacy and have resorted to putting their bins out very late at night or early the next morning.
“Other residents have reported that the collectors often throw out other waste from their bins to retrieve the cans and bottles, leaving them a mess to clean up every fortnight.
“In some cases residents have reported that the entire contents of their recycle bin have been emptied out.”
The council will now investigate the issues and impacts of the Return and Earn scheme.
Yagoona’s Karen Vitasa has caught a few people going through her bins.
“Sometimes they leave the bin open and everything falls out,” she said.
“It’s very confronting because the bin is not always on the street but out front in my property.”
Bottle collectors mess up
THE Return and Earn container deposit scheme may be proving to be a success but it has presented a few more problems, according to one Canterbury Bankstown councillor.
