Side issues in junk clean-up

Council’s much-loved kerbside clean-up is back, but the chance to clean out junk is causing chaos on some shire streets.
The Noosa Community Notice Board Facebook page spun into a frenzy when Tewantin resident Stacey said she didn’t mind people picking from her pile of unwanted rubbish, if they would just clean up after themselves.
“Please remember if you are taking items, leave everything in a neat pile on people’s lawns. I had everything boxed up and just came home to find half the boxes taken and the contents tipped out all over the place,” she said.
“I’ve even had to put notes on the garbage bags telling people not to rip them all open, it’s just rubbish inside them.”
The promised return of the Noosa kerbside clean-up was an election winning platform when local council was returned to Noosa, but it seems the free collection isn’t free from issues.
Pat Isaacs said during last year’s clean-up he had people from the Sunshine Coast Council adding their rubbish to the pile out the front of his home.
“I came home one day to find several boxes and a tatty old armchair,” he said. “I confronted another lot who pulled up and tried to dump stuff. They said ‘you don’t mind, surely?’ I stood there while they loaded it back up, after suggesting I would pay for their laziness in my council rates.”
A 2014 report by council’s waste co-ordinator Doug Barnes noted residents of other shires dumping their rubbish was a problem back then, along with residents dumping useful items that could be donated.
Michiela Stonehouse offered a piece of advice for the community as the clean-up works through the seven-week timetable.
“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, just be respectful and use common sense,” she said.