1300+ requests for cleanups and counting

Clean-up efforts continue to be a matter of urgent priority as Wollongong City Council and Remondis work in partnership to offer one free additional household clean-up to flood impacted residents.

To date, we’ve received over 1300 requests for additional, on-call household cleanups from flood affected residents. We’ve completed more than 780 of these residential cleanups and are working our way through the remainder of the bookings. This mammoth effort has seen more than 2600 tonnes of additional flood waste enter landfill.

To achieve this, we’ve been working Monday to Sunday to meet the demand for additional, on-call household cleanups for flood-impacted residents.

With demand for the additional collection service for flood waste easing, bookings for the free additional service will end 5pm, Friday 19 April. Council will not be taking any new bookings for free additional waste collections after this date. Residents not impacted by floods can continue to book their standard on-call household cleanups (up to 2 per year) as usual, through the Wollongong Waste website and App.

With fewer visits to Whytes Gully tip (the Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park) occurring the fee waiver for flood affected general waste and green waste will end 4pm Sunday 21 April. From Monday, Council’s normal fees will be applied for flood affected waste minus the NSW Government EPA Waste Levy.

During the next few weeks, Council will continue to support flood impacted residents on a case-by-case basis. Flood impacted residents who need additional support should contact Council’s Customer Service team on (02) 4227 7111 and we’ll take into account your individual need as we assess your request.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said that the free additional service and waiver of fees were coming to an end, as the city approached the two week mark since the Saturday 6 April floods.

“Council’s crews and Remondis have worked hard to help residents impacted by floods get rid of their waste responsibly. Remondis ramped up their normal weekday waste collection service and Council crews have worked daily to meet the demand for help,” Cr Bradbery said.

“While we have completed a large number of collections, we are still working our way through the rest of the bookings, and this will take some time. “We thank our community for their continued support and patience. Please know that we’re prioritising cleanup and repair work around the community based on need. If you’ve booked in a collection or have contacted Council for our support, we’ll be getting in touch with you in the coming days to let you know where we’re at with your request.

“This free additional, on-call household cleanup service is coming to an end this Friday, almost two weeks on from the weather event, as we’re now reaching the point where we’re seeing residents put out waste for clean-up that’s not flood affected.

“This behaviour isn’t on as it slows our ability to help those in actual need and uses up valuable air space at our waste facility. From Friday afternoon, we will be returning to business as usual with our on-call household cleanups for Wollongong residents. Residents not impacted by floods can still book their yearly on-call cleanup through the Wollongong Waste website and you’ll be given a scheduled cleanup day.”

Cleanup and recovery takes time. While Council has prioritised the community’s need for immediate flood waste collection, we’re also doing urgent cleanup and repair work of our local roads and footpaths.

Why so many trucks?

If you’ve booked an additional, on-call household cleanup, you may have noticed that your flood waste is being picked up in multiple visits by multiple trucks.

This is so we can be sure we’re separating waste as much as possible so that we dispose of it responsibly.

If you’ve called Remondis to book an urgent on-call cleanup to pick up flood damaged waste, you can help us by separating your waste into different piles.