Kiama's free bulky waste drop-off for eligible residents could end: a staff business case recommends a proposed $19.77 rebate and the $121 user-pays kerbside clean-up instead

What is being decided

Since 2020, Kiama households have got rid of furniture, mattresses and other large items at a booked drop-off event at the Minnamurra Waste Recycling Facility, held twice a year, in March and September. The council's business case on its future, dated 1 August 2026, describes it as a free, booked drop-off event for eligible residents, paid for through the Domestic Waste Management Charge on the rates. It also records that the council's website then showed the service as under review, with the next event for September 2026 being placed on hold due to ongoing WHS issues.

On 15 September the council voted 9-0 to receive the business case and put the options to the community before deciding (resolution 26/257OC in the minutes). The same night, Councillor Larkins had a question with notice asking for an update and whether the requirements and timing of the new Performance Improvement Order (PIO) are a factor in the continuation of this service. The council's consultation page runs from 28 September to 26 October, with an online survey, a paper version from the administration centre or the Minnamurra facility, and a staff pop-up at Kiama Village Shopping Centre on Tuesday 13 October from 12 to 2pm. A further report then goes to council for the decision.

The three options, for a household

1. End the event

What changes

The drop-off event stops. Each household paying the waste charge gets a proposed $19.77 rebate through that charge.

Getting rid of bulky items

Book the existing user-pays on-call kerbside clean-up: $121 a collection in 2026-27, up to 1 cubic metre or 100 kg, one booking per household per financial year under the current rules.

Not collected

Mattresses, e-waste, building materials and hazardous waste, among others.

Staff view

Recommended in the business case.

2. A voucher

What changes

The drop-off event is replaced by a proposed $19.77 voucher per eligible household, redeemed through a waste app.

Getting rid of bulky items

Take them yourself to a participating facility. The business case modelled Shellharbour's Dunmore facility, where $19.77 pays for about 38 kg of landfill; you pay anything above that.

App costs

$21,172 for the app's set-up and yearly costs, in the business case's table 6.

3. Keep the event

What changes

The booked drop-off continues at Minnamurra, with its cap of 175 bookings a day and added site controls.

Getting rid of bulky items

As now: a booked trailer or ute load, up to 2 cubic metres or 200 kg, plus up to two mattresses.

Staff view

The report says this option does not meet workplace health and safety requirements for the workforce and presents significant operational risk.

How much each option would take away

The weight limits tell most of the story. In the business case's three years of figures, the average household that came to the drop-off brought 168.6 kg. The user-pays clean-up takes up to 100 kg. The voucher, at Dunmore's 2026-27 landfill fee of $515 a tonne, pays for 38 kg; the council says the voucher is intended to encourage residents to reuse and recycle before disposal.

What a household could dispose of, by option

Bars drawn to one scale, in kilograms.

For a household that books one clean-up a year under option 1, the trade is $121 paid against $19.77 back, or $101.23 more out of pocket than a free event (our arithmetic), for up to half the event's weight limit. In an average year about three in four households did not use the event at all (our arithmetic from the business case's figure) and would simply get the rebate: only 24% of households utilise the service due to the limited booking availability. The consultation page puts the trade-off in plain words: There is no perfect solution.

Why staff want the event to end

The report to the 15 September meeting, from the Director Infrastructure and Operations, says the Minnamurra facility was not designed to run a high-volume public event alongside its normal work. It lists a stockpile fire in 2024 and various lost-time injuries involving Council employees, and says that at the March 2026 event, despite controls from an independent safety report, a council employee was injured after being impacted by a resident's vehicle at the check-in point. The business case adds that the site safely handles 62 transactions on an average day; the event's daily cap of 175 bookings, brought in after the fire to reduce the risk of queues across the railway level crossing, comes on top of those.

Staff safety is paramount to the workplace and this level of risk is unacceptable for the workforce.

The cap created its own complaint. The business case says feedback rose after it came in, from households paying for a service through their waste charge that they could not book, or could not use without a trailer. There is a second reason in the report, and it connects to the council's finances. Running the drop-off at Minnamurra, it says, conflicts with plans for the site as a catalyst site for future consolidation of the Waste and Works depots. The council's draft Revenue Improvement Strategy, on exhibition until 16 October and covered in our report of 5 October, says Council has made the strategic decision to consolidate its Works Depot operations with its Waste Depot at Minnamurra, which would free the Shoalhaven Street depot for housing.

How the drop-off got here, and what comes next

1. 2014The council trials the drop-off model alongside its scheduled kerbside clean-up.
2. 11 February 2020The council resolves to end the twice-yearly kerbside clean-up and run two drop-off events a year (resolution 20/027).
3. September 2024After that month's event, a fire ignites in landfill material. An independent safety audit follows, and the 175-a-day booking cap.
4. 18 November 2025The council endorses a business case from its domestic waste service review, a report that recommended a review of the drop-off.
5. March 2026A council employee is injured at the event's check-in point.
6. 30 June 2026The amended Performance Improvement Order; the business case says the alternatives must not cost significantly more each year than the current service.
7. 15 September 2026Council votes 9-0 to consult on the three options (26/257OC).
8. 13 October 2026Staff pop-up, Kiama Village Shopping Centre, 12 to 2pm.
9. 26 October 2026Consultation closes at midnight.
10. No date givenA further report to council with the outcomes and a recommendation, then the decision.

The money

The drop-off has cost an average of $206,903 a year over three years, funded through the waste charge. Divided across 10,463 eligible households, that is the $19.77 behind both the rebate and the voucher. The cost per attendee averaged $81.69.

The drop-off's last three years

Financial year	Attendees	Total cost	Per attendee
2023-24	2,374	$201,661	$84.95
2024-25	2,538	$214,714	$84.60
2025-26	2,705	$204,334	$75.54
Average	2,539	$206,903	$81.69

Ending the event would not save money, on the business case's own figures: There is no cost savings expected as a result of implementing Option 1. Each user-pays collection costs the council an estimated $203 against the $121 fee, so the waste charge covers 40 per cent. If the same 24 per cent of households booked one clean-up a year, the business case's table 4 puts the shortfall at $205,911.84, close to the event's own average cost. The business case does not say how many years the rebate would be paid; the only timing it gives is the first: In the first year, the DWMC rebate would reduce revenue generated through the DWMC. After that, the business case says, the drop-off would be removed from the waste service model, and The DWMC is not likely to reduce as a result, with any savings offset by rising labour, disposal and levy costs. The consultation page says any future change to the charge would be set through the annual budget and fees process.

The voucher's costs depend on how many households use it. The business case's table 7 puts disposal at $51,713.38 if a quarter redeem it and $206,853.51 if every household does, on top of the app. Its comparison of neighbouring councils describes Wollongong as offering two booked on-call collections a financial year of up to 2 cubic metres with no extra cost, and Shellharbour a user-pays collection at $112 for 2 cubic metres; we have not checked those descriptions against either council's own pages.

Our read

This is opinion, built on the documents above. The safety case is documented and serious: a fire, lost-time injuries and an employee injured by a resident's vehicle, at a site the council's own staff say cannot host the event. Nobody should want option 3 to mean more of that. But residents are being asked to weigh three options on a page that leaves out two things they need. First, the page says its ratings do not represent a Council preference, which is true of councillors, who have not decided; but the business case behind it says plainly that Option 1 is the recommended option, and residents should know that when they answer. Second, the voucher relies on Shellharbour's Dunmore facility, yet the council's own report says Under the terms of the PIO Council cannot enter into new waste contracts for domestic household waste (bulky or otherwise), and that further consultation with the Office of Local Government and neighbouring councils would be needed. An option whose legal path the council itself questions is a hard thing to vote for in a survey. Before the survey closes, the council should say whether the $19.77 rebate is a one-year payment or a lasting change to the charge, and whether a voucher is possible under the order at all. Without those two answers, residents are choosing between an event staff say is unsafe and a $121 clean-up with a rebate of unstated length.

Sources

1. Kiama Municipal Council, Help shape the future of bulky waste services, Your Say consultation page, last updated 7 October 2026, read 10 October 2026: the three options, the proposed $19.77 rebate and voucher, the comparison ratings and their disclaimer, the consultation dates, the pop-up and the survey.
2. Kiama Municipal Council, Household Bulky Waste Alternatives Business Case, 26/83486, dated 1 August 2026, enclosure 1 to item 16.1 of 15 September 2026, read 10 October 2026: the event's history, the hold on the September 2026 event, tables 1 to 7, the rebate and voucher method, the costs, the risks, the recommendation and the neighbouring councils comparison.
3. Kiama Municipal Council, Report 16.1, Household bulky waste drop-off alternatives, ordinary meeting of 15 September 2026, read 10 October 2026: the fire, the injuries, the risk statement, the user-pays fee and subsidy, the catalyst site and the PIO contract constraint.
4. Kiama Municipal Council, Minutes of the ordinary meeting of 15 September 2026, read 10 October 2026: resolution 26/257OC and its vote, and question with notice 19.1.
5. Kiama Municipal Council, User Pays On-Call Kerbside Clean Up, service page, read 10 October 2026: the one booking a year rule, the 1 cubic metre or 100 kg limit, the event's 2 cubic metre or 200 kg limit and two mattresses, and the 50 per cent subsidy wording.
6. Kiama Municipal Council, Draft Revenue Improvement Strategy, September 2026, read 10 October 2026: Minnamurra as a catalyst site and the decision to consolidate the works depot there.

Spotted an error, or read these documents differently? Tell us and we will check it against the documents and log the outcome here.