During our meeting, there was lively discussion about the Public Place bins, including their locations and rationale for placing them in particular places. The Staff stated that bins will not be placed in locations where it is known that they will fill overnight with domestic residential rubbish or where bins will fill up and overflow into the environment leaving the litter to find its way into the ocean, harbour or bush. For this reason no bin will be placed at Bower Lane at the entry point to Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve. Rubbish has to be taken to bins at either end of the walkway. The bin adjacent to the Norfolk Pine near the shower at South Steyne was moved to a more prominent position nearer to the Surf Club at the request of some community members. However requests to move the bin at Shelly beach near the old boat ramp next to the Cabbage Tree Bay sign has not been agreed to.

The small blue street ‘be tidy’ bins, like the one outside Coles and on the wharf, will eventually be replaced, but the community has requested that they be cleaned and repaired to improve the street aesthetic.

Staff informed us that the ‘smart bins’ at Shelly turned out to be not so smart and the trial was not successful for various reasons. For example if a bag of rubbish was not inserted into the bin completely and got stuck at the top of the bin, the ‘smart camera’ reported that the bin was full.

Staff reminded the community to report any full public place bins they come across to Council via the QR code on the bins, the customer service app or simply call the Council. Council will empty them as soon as possible. We were also assured that Council will increase collection and the number of public place bins during the busy summer season.

The Manly Business Chamber and Council are working with contractors to ensure that overflowing bins from local businesses are not left on the kerbside for the public to dispose of their takeaway rubbish.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to us or the Council waste staff.