Families forced to store dirty nappies in freezers after council introduces ‘climate saving’ changes to its bin collections and rubbish piles up on the streets

Residents have rejected a major change to the council’s waste collection, which has left some families storing dirty nappies in freezers.

Sydney’s Inner West Council has sparked a backlash among locals after a controversial change to its weekly household waste collections.

The Council introduced changes in October which resulted in the red bins being collected once a fortnight instead of once a week.

Residents in Sydney’s inner west are furious over a major change to waste collection, with their bins now overflowing (pictured) with rubbish

Residents were also given new green food, organic and garden organic (FOGO) bins to dispose of their food waste, which will instead be collected weekly.

The council said the move was an important part of efforts to combat climate change, but locals have lashed out at the move which they say has left them with overflowing rubbish bins.

The overflowing waste has led to some families having to resort to freezing dirty nappies as the red bin for general waste is collected every two weeks.

A local resident, Diane Kessikidis, took to social media to complain about the problem.

‘people putting dirty nappies in the freezer FFS because they can’t keep them in the bin for 2 weeks due to the smell (sic) and that’s what they’ve resorted to!’ she said.

“This is by far the dumbest change this council has tried to make, and it’s an instant failure before it even gets off the ground.”

Others said the waste had led to pests such as maggots swarming the bins.

‘Ours are sitting and festering nicely. I hope the council will offer a free rubbish cleaning service as we are now dealing with maggots,” one resident wrote.

Another local resident said the council asked her about her food and waste recycling habits after she complained about rubbish piling up in her bin.

“Who has leftover food these days with three growing children and especially the cost of food and I have a worm farm.” she said.

The changes, which have seen general household waste bins collected once a fortnight instead of once a week, have caused rubbish to pile up, forcing some families to put dirty nappies in the freezer.

Residents previously complained that they were not consulted about the change before switching to having waste collected once a fortnight.

Ny Breaking Australia has contacted the Inner West Council for comment.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said almost half of all waste is food waste, prompting the council to take the step to introduce the new system.

Mr Byrne said the move would reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. This can be achieved by reducing the number of times household waste is collected by the municipality.

He said the changes reflect NSW EPA (Environmental Protection Authority) guidance in enforcing better waste management practices.

‘We have already saved 700 tonnes of food waste converted into compost, which is much more than we expected. Residents will receive the same number of collections,” Mr Byrne said The Daily Telegraph.

Residents have complained that the Inner West Council’s waste management system rollout was poorly executed, with some locals saying they were not consulted before the change came into effect

The EPA oversees the Regional Coordination Assistance Program, which supports municipalities in developing waste management and remediation plans.

The state government has committed more than $15 million over five years under the program to support organizations such as municipalities in reducing waste.