Kangaroo Island Bin Roll-Out

     Advance Kingscote Progress Association, in collaboration with the Kingscote Men’s Shed, successfully tendered to the Kangaroo Island Council for the rollout of new 240 litre yellow and green waste recycle bins.  Yellow bins, which were a replacement for the smaller 140 litre units, were to be delivered to the approximately 4,000 properties scattered throughout Kangaroo Island, with the new green waste bins restricted to non-rural properties within major township areas such as Kingscote, Penneshaw, Parndana and American River.

     The roll-out began in August 2017 commencing in the rural areas around Kingscote, with the main township following soon thereafter.  All persons involved in the delivery were volunteers, the towing vehicles were all powerful four-wheel drive vehicles, supplied and driven by the volunteers.  The bins were collected from council depot areas being loaded onto very large trailers, these being kindly supplied at no cost by Kangaroo Island Council and a Kingscote business ‘KI Crash Repairs’.

     The bins were delivered to each depot and placed onto the delivery trailers in a “stacked” state.   This meant that the lids, axles and wheels had to be attached to the bins on the roadside as they were being delivered to households.  All vehicles were equipped with flashing lights and all crew had appropriate high-viz safety gear.

     Initially there were a few trials and tribulations in the roll-out such as poor, incorrect or no street numbering and heavy rain and cold.  The volunteers, however, did not complain and just got on with the job with enthusiasm and vigour; this being very laudable as a great many of these volunteers were in their seventies and doing manual handling that would put many young people to shame. 

     The knowledge of the Island geography by the Advance Kingscote and Men’s Shed volunteer crews was invaluable; one would fail to see how an off-island roll-out contractor could have coped.

     The bin roll-out was completed ahead of schedule - once again a testimony to the resilience of the Advance Kingscote Progress Association and the Kingscote Men’s Shed volunteers.