Did you know that Forest Lake has the third-highest illegal dumping complaints since kerbside collection was temporarily halted? Much to the relief of the residents, the service is due to resume soon.
In April 2020, kerbside collection was initially paused due to the pandemic, triggering an increase in illegal dumping reports across Brisbane. For the next 10 months, Forest Lake had 35 illegal dumping cases.
On the other hand, Inala (74 reports), Doolandella (36 reports), Calamvale (29 reports) and Zillmere (27 reports) were also in the top five suburbs with increasing illegal dumping cases, causing waste to scatter in footpaths, roads and parks. Tipshop trips increased by as much as 18.6 percent as residents were left to dispose of their large, unwanted items commonly collected during the regular kerbside run.
Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced in mid-2020 that kerbside collection will not resume until July 2022 as funds for the service would be used for COVID-19 recovery initiatives. To appease angry ratepayers, the Council launched an expanded free waste voucher program to allow residents to dispose of their household wastes at no cost.
Council said that 617,384 of these vouchers were redeemed in 2020, up from 520,468 in 2019. This suggested that many residents have been properly disposing of their unwanted items.
However, illegal dumping reports rose to 117 during the first three months of the kerbside collection pause whilst the complaints were less than 10 during the pre-COVID lockdowns. Meanwhile, residents kept rallying for Council to reinstate the service.
Following the release of the budget for 2021-2022, Mr Schrinner confirmed the resumption of kerbside collection beginning July 2021. Residents of Forest Lake Ward have to keep tabs on these kerbside collection dates.
| DATE | SUBURBS |
| 30 August 2021 | Forest Lake, Ellen Grove, Richlands |
| 6 Sept 2021 | Inala, Doolandella, Durak |
Bookmark Council’s Kerbside Collection page for updates or in case of changes to the dates.
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