🗑️ Give City of Swan Families a Weekly Red Bin!

Stop making families store two weeks of household rubbish
We are calling on the City of Swan to introduce weekly red-lid general waste collection for residential households.

For many families, a fortnight is simply too long to store rubbish — especially households with babies, nappies, young children, pets and three or more people.

We should not have to live with foul-smelling rubbish bins for two weeks at a time especially summer coming shortly.

Why this matters
Imagine putting nappies, hygiene waste and everyday household rubbish into your bin — then being told it won't be collected for another 14 days.

As Perth's temperatures rise, rubbish can become increasingly unpleasant, attracting odours, flies and pests and creating a difficult hygiene issue around the home.

Families are doing the right thing. We separate food and garden waste into FOGO. We recycle. We try to reduce waste.

But not everything can go into the FOGO or recycling bins.

Nappies and other unavoidable household waste still have to go somewhere.

5 facts residents should know
🗓️ The red bin is collected fortnightly in the City of Swan, meaning households can store general waste for up to 14 days.
🌡️ Warm weather makes waste odours and hygiene problems more difficult, particularly when waste remains in a bin for an extended period.
👶 Families with babies and young children can generate significant unavoidable waste, including nappies and hygiene products.
🏘️ Household sizes vary, meaning a fortnightly collection does not work equally well for a single-person household and a family of five or six.
✅ Weekly general-waste collection already operates in other Perth councils, including the City of Stirling and City of Joondalup, demonstrating that weekly collection can operate alongside recycling and FOGO systems.
We support FOGO — but families need a practical red-bin service too
This petition is not against FOGO.

We support recycling.
We support FOGO.
We support reducing landfill.

But these programs do not eliminate all household rubbish.

The City of Swan itself recognises the importance of frequent FOGO collection in helping manage food waste and odours.

So why should families have to keep unavoidable general waste for twice as long?

We are asking the City of Swan to listen
We call on the City of Swan Council to:

✔ Introduce weekly red-bin collection.

✔ Keep weekly FOGO collection.

✔ Continue encouraging recycling and waste reduction.

✔ Consider additional support or larger bins for larger households.

✔ Consult residents about the real-world impact of fortnightly red-bin collection.

This is about more than rubbish.

It's about hygiene, dignity, families, children and the quality of life in our homes.

A family shouldn't have to dread opening their own rubbish bin.

A parent shouldn't have to worry about flies and smells around where their children play.

And residents who pay their rates deserve a waste collection service that works for the households actually living in the community.

✊ Sign the petition
If you live in the City of Swan, please sign.

If you have children, sign.

If you've ever opened a two-week-old rubbish bin in summer and thought “this can't be right”, sign.

And most importantly:

SIGN IT. SHARE IT. ASK YOUR NEIGHBOURS TO SIGN IT.
The more residents who speak together, the harder it is for our concerns to be ignored.

Let's ask the City of Swan for a cleaner, healthier and more practical waste service.

🗑️ WEEKLY RED BIN FOR SWAN FAMILIES.
✊ SIGN. SHARE. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

 

Action Plan

• Every Ratepayer Can Hold Council Accountable.
• Simple actions that every City of Swan ratepayer can take to make their voice heard, demand answers and push for change.

 

Step 1 — Collect evidence

Take photos and record odour, flies/maggots, overflowing bins and capacity problems. Ask affected neighbours to provide their experiences.

Step 2 — Contact the Mayor and all Councillors

Explain the problem and ask: “Will you support a Council review and 6-month trial of weekly red-bin collection?”

Keep all responses.

Step 3 — Make a formal complaint

Submit a formal complaint to the City of Swan – e-complaint. Clearly request weekly red-bin collection Keep the complaint/reference number.

Step 4 — Attend a Council meeting in Groups/Individual

Register for Public Question Time and ask:

How many complaints have been received?
What evidence supports fortnightly collection and who voted for this without ratepayers approval?
Ask unanswered questions to be taken on notice.

Step 5 — Demand a Council report

Ask Councillors to require a formal report comparing weekly and fortnightly collection, including cost, odour, hygiene, capacity, complaints and resident feedback.

Step 6 — Keep everything in writing

Save all complaints, emails, Councillor responses, petition signatures, photos and Council minutes.

Step 7 — Escalate if ignored

Use the City's formal complaint escalation process. If the City fails to properly handle or investigate the complaint, consider the WA Ombudsman. If necessary, approach local media once you have solid evidence and resident support.

Key point

Don't just complain individually. Build documented community support, involve Councillors, get the issue publicly recorded, and demand a specific outcome: weekly red-bin

Goal: Get the City of Swan to change red-bin collection from fortnightly to weekly, or introduce an immediate because of odour, hygiene and capacity problems.

 

MEETING DATES

City of Swan - Council meeting dates website link

https://www.swan.wa.gov.au/city-and-council/your-council/council-meeting-dates

  

September  - 2026

Agenda Forum - 2 September 2026    

Council Meeting - 9 September 2026

October    - 2026

Agenda Forum - 7 October 2026    

Council Meeting - 14 October 2026

November      - 2026

Agenda Forum - 4 November 2026    

Council Meeting - 11 November 2026

December      - 2026

Agenda Forum - 2 December 2026    

Council Meeting - 9 December 2026
 

 

City of Swan – Council Members

https://www.swan.wa.gov.au/city-and-council/your-council/meet-your-councillors

 

City of Swan — Mayor

Tanya Richardson — Mayor
Phone: 0414 384 734
Email: tanya.richardson@swan.wa.gov.au

Altone Ward

Jennifer Catalano — Councillor
Phone: 0403 338 002
Email: jennifer.catalano@swan.wa.gov.au

Shaynon Dean — Councillor
Phone: 0423 655 812
Email: shaynon.dean@swan.wa.gov.au

Nav Kaur — Councillor
Phone: 0406 731 444
Email: Nav.Kaur@swan.wa.gov.au

Midland/Guildford Ward

Sarah Howlett — Councillor
Phone: 0438 378 980
Email: sarah.howlett@swan.wa.gov.au

Ian Johnson — Councillor
Phone: 0411 097 393
Email: ian.johnson@swan.wa.gov.au

Rashelle Predovnik — Councillor
Phone: 0468 849 344
Email: rashelle.predovnik@swan.wa.gov.au

Pearce Ward

Aaron Bowman JP — Councillor
Phone: 0458 501 075
Email: aaron.bowman@swan.wa.gov.au

Maria Toquero — Councillor
Phone: 0419 711 137
Email: maria.toquero@swan.wa.gov.au

Cate McCullough — Councillor
Phone: 0433 432 430
Email: cate.mccullough@swan.wa.gov.au

Evia Aringo — Councillor
Phone: 0475 402 647
Email: evia.aringo@swan.wa.gov.au

Swan Valley/Gidgegannup Ward

Rod Henderson — Councillor
Phone: 0413 496 688
Email: rod.henderson@swan.wa.gov.au

Charlie Zannino — Deputy Mayor / Councillor
Phone: 0412 788 817
Email: charlie.zannino@swan.wa.gov.au

Whiteman Ward

Mel Congerton — Councillor
Phone: 0417 831 727
Email: mel.congerton@swan.wa.gov.au

Haeden Miles — Councillor
Phone: 0451 742 093
Email: haeden.miles@swan.wa.gov.au

 

Under WA local-government rules:

Mayor + Councillors / Council: Decide the policy and whether the City will provide weekly or fortnightly waste collection. Council is responsible for the City's overall direction, services, policies and finances. Individual Councillors cannot make the change themselves. 

CEO: Once Council makes a decision, the CEO is responsible for making sure that decision is implemented and for managing the City's day-to-day operations. 

Waste administration/staff: They operate the actual collection service under the CEO. The City of Swan currently places Fleet and Waste Services under its Executive Director, Operations.

Questions to ASK

Council / Councillors:

"Will you vote to change red-bin collection to weekly?"

CEO / Administration:

"If Council approves weekly collection, will you implement the decision and provide the service?"

The most important target for getting the change approved is Council, because Council makes the policy/service decision. Once approved, the CEO is responsible for execution.

✊ SIGN. SHARE. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.