I find this proposed fee of $135 to be offensive to people who, by the very nature of their own waste management, very seldom use the entire rural waste card and for others that don't use the card at all: ie. most weekenders, of which there are a minimum of 33-plus properties within Bungonia Heights alone.

If it is deemed that I am charged $85 per annum for 12 months of tip fees and that tip card has 52 basic visits and I only use the tip system once a month over 12 months, then it would seem that the currency value on the remaining 40 unused tip visits would be absorbed into council coffers, not to mention the lessening of landfill and lower work load of the tip employee.

There are a large number, from Bungonia Heights alone, who don't use the entire tip card or obtain the full "value" of the tip card that they have already been charged for each financial year.

Now multiply those simple figures by the 33-plus weekenders from Bungonia Heights who have the same tip charge but don't use their cards at all (33 x $85). And that, in the local government area, is only for Bungonia Heights.

It is now December. The current rural waste cards have been used for the past six months and I have only used mine four times within that six-month period.

A more appropriate method for rural waste card management would be that the rural residents purchase their card for $85 and that particular card stays valid until such time as the card is fully used, whether that be within one year or five years. The purchased cards can be of a different colour to differentiate those issued per annum.

That is only an alternative for the tip card, but doesn't address the issue of the card having to be re-issued.

A totally different alternative is that the rural resident purchase their own tip cards and, when attending the tip, produce their driver’s licence, or other proof of residency, and a mark is made against the residential address, up to 52 visits per year or until the 52 visits are completed over whatever time period it takes.

Any more than the regular 52 visits per year is charged at the normal rate and those that don't use the full potential of the card, such as myself and the 33-plus weekenders of Bungonia Heights, can take whatever period of time that it takes to complete that number of transactions.

Producing your driver’s licence, or proof of residency, also eliminates the burden of the council not knowing how many times the residents of a particular property have used the tip or in fact if they are using more than one tip card: ie. if the council fears that people of one property are using more than one tip card, having to produce a proof of residency/driver’s licence and having that visit marked off against the property would eliminate this, so it wouldn't matter if I or anyone from my property attended the tip, it would be recorded as a visit and marked off from the system as per their driver’s licence or proof of residency.

There is then no need of rural tip cards and the burden of a lost the tip card is totally removed from the council as it is a requirement, under legislation, that the driver of a motor vehicle produces their driver’s licence (for various legal reasons).

In the 12 years I have lived here, I have never once used anywhere near a full card which is, firstly, a waste of money (usage versus value of the card) and, secondly, a waste of money, because – despite the card only having half a dozen holes punched each year – the council is still obtaining and posting those cards to me by the end of the next financial year.