Tip Shop blues

Pat Synge

If Council has good reasons for awarding this contact to a commercial operator they should explain why. This charity has been providing real employment opportunities for disabled people and, by doing so, raising funds that allow it to provide support for others. CPT now has to find a way to fill this deficit in its income if it’s to carry on its important work. And these people are out of work and will have real difficulty finding jobs.

A petition is circulating and if enough Kingborough electors sign it (1000) the Kingborough Council is obliged to hold a public meeting to discuss the issue.
Visit http://www.cerebralpalsytas.org.au/ for further details.

With little explanation it was announced last week that Cerebral Palsy Tasmania had lost its long held contract to operate the Resource Recovery Centre and the Margate Tip Shop where they have been employing some 20 workers and raising funds for the charity which performs valuable work throughout Tasmania — ut receives no State Government support.

Some three quarters of these workers are disabled and it seems unlikely that the new operator will hire them and the funds flowing to Cerebral Palsy Tasmania will dry up.

I often call in on my way past: either to drop something off or to browse through the interesting collection of reclaimed odds and ends. I’ve seen the tip shop improve over the years and have always appreciated the helpful and cheerful spirit of the workers there. Knowing that any money spent was going to a good cause was always a bonus.

Waste management is a headache for all Councils and it’s probably simpler to contract out the whole tip operation to one operator and this rationalisation may well be what has happened in this case. Explanations are hard to come by. When announcing the change the Mayor gave no details except to say that the process was “criteria based” and that another operator had been awarded the tender. This turns out to be the Mornington tip shop operator which is a commercial waste management firm.

The CEO of Cerebral Palsy Tasmania, Lindy O’Neill expressed dismay when she heard of the decision:”Our whole organisation is in shock at the loss of the tender. Some of our employees at KRRC have been with us for over 15 years, and it’s devastating to know that they might be out of a job in a few weeks”.

And so the question is: Why?

Was the operation inefficient? It certainly didn’t appear so and certainly a huge quantity of resources were diverted from landfill and recycled or reused. Last month the operation earned more than $30.000 for CPT. The Council has since stated that it was “a cost neutral contract and, as such, finance was not a matter of consideration for the Council.”

Were there safety considerations? I haven’t heard of any accidents though I understand that some Council employees at the tip resented missing out on the “perks” they considered were part of the job. There had apparently been some friction between them and the Cerebral Palsy salvage workers with some nasty incidents of abuse and intimidation. Perhaps Council is trying to avoid repetitions of this unpleasantness. The decision was made in closed Council and so none of the Councillors are at liberty to discuss any details.

If Council has good reasons for awarding this contact to a commercial operator they should explain why. This charity has been providing real employment opportunities for disabled people and, by doing so, raising funds that allow it to provide support for others. CPT now has to find a way to fill this deficit in its income if it’s to carry on its important work. And these people are out of work and will have real difficulty finding jobs.

A petition is circulating and if enough Kingborough electors sign it (1000) the Kingborough Council is obliged to hold a public meeting to discuss the issue.
Visit http://www.cerebralpalsytas.org.au/ for further details.

Pat Synge has a long held interest in recycling. His free classified advertising website www.buyselltrade.com.au was recently awarded the Hobart City Council’s “Dr Edward Hall Environment Award” for facilitating and encouraging recycling and reuse.