Dubbo Regional Council is encouraging those who haven’t used their pre-booked bulky rubbish collection service in the past year to tell them why.
A trial pre-booked bulky rubbish collection service was introduced on 1 July, 2024, with Councillors making the decision in April 2025 to extend the trial period for another year.
In 2026, Councillors will make a decision on the future of the service.
Council is encouraging households who haven’t used the service to take part in the non-user survey.
Dubbo Regional Council Acting Manager Resource Recovery and Efficiency Amber Palmer said the decision to trial a pre-booked service, rather than the annual bulky waste pick up was made for a number of reasons.
“In 2024 Councillors determined to implement the trial period for the pre-booked collection, available to residences who receive a two or three bin kerbside collection.
“Under the pre-booked collection trial, eligible households were able to book one collection, per financial year, at a time that suits them. Before that, the system operated on a fixed schedule, with an annual zone-based system running from October to December across the LGA,” Ms Palmer said.
The pre-booked model costs approximately $383,000 annually, compared to the former annual pick-up which costed approximately $527,000, allowing greater financial savings.
Around 21,500 residences are eligible for the service, with over 2,000 bookings made in the first half of the 2025/2026 financial year. In the 2024/2025 financial year, 2,990 bookings were made for the service.
The benefits of the pre-booked bulky rubbish collection service have included a reduction in costs to undertake the program, reduction in windblown pollution and increased diversion from landfill with more time for staff to segregate waste into recycling streams.
“A report will go back to Council this year to determine the future of the service, and we want Councillors to make an informed decision, which includes feedback from those who have and haven’t used the service,” Ms Palmer said.
The non-user survey is now open, and will run until 10 March 2026.
Non-users of the collection can access the survey on Council’s Your Say page at https://yoursay.dubbo.nsw.gov.au/bulky-rubbish-collection-survey
Residences who have used the service have received a survey following their collection, allowing them to provide details at the time as to their experience.