CIGARETTE butt bins installed for a second time outside Woolworths at Hastings were stolen within weeks, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was told last week.
The shire’s cleansing facilitator – roads, drainage and cleansing operations Krystal Millen said the bins were a “complementary service and not a waste management requirement of the store”.
She said she had passed on details of a local bin supplier to store manager Chris Tatt who she said was planning to seek “vandal proof receptacle options”.
“This will still need approval from Woolworths head office due to the additional costs and again, this is the responsibility of the property owner,” Ms Millen said.
Resident Fredrick Crump raised the issue of unkept areas around the Woolworths store in Victoria Street during a recent council question time.
“Four months ago, I spoke to three managers at Woolworths concerning filthy rubbish blowing into the nearby streets from their Hastings carpark and surrounds,” Mr Crump said.
“Some weeks later, a discussion took place with the mayor [Cr David Gill] and shire ranger Travers Finlayson about getting rid of the rubbish. A week later I received an email from council telling me to go back to the Woolworths manager if I wanted more assistance.
“Under the Environment Protection Act, council has the power to make owners of private property act if any rubbish is blowing into a street from their properties.”
Mr Finlayson said Mr Tatt told him the laneway running south to Elizabeth Street, on Woolworths’ land, was serviced monthly and that approval would be requested from head office to increase the frequency.
“Woolworths may also choose to close this laneway due to the increase in upkeep,” Mr Finlayson said. “The shire [is] not responsible for how Woolworths manages their land; we can only encourage best practice in waste management.”
First published in the Western Port Times – 14 August 2019
