Council 'bin enforcer' patrols Sydney streets as residents risk $220 fine

The Sydney rubbish bin wars are heating up, with one council deploying an officer to check which households are leaving them on the street too long.

A resident of Paddington, in the city's affluent eastern suburbs, contacted 9news.com.au saying he had learnt a "senior official" from Woollahra Council visited their neighbourhood on Tuesdays when bins were due to be wheeled in from the streets.

The council officer noted which bins on a laneway around Paddington, Windsor and Cascade streets remained out for too long, the resident says.

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The move came after the resident and neighbours received letters from Woollahra Council warning them to ensure bins are taken off the streets within 12 hours of collection, or risk a fine of $220 for every week the rules are broken.

But the resident, who requested to remain unidentified, says the laneway - Paddington Lane - is little used, and urged the council to show some "common sense".

"I understand the council position if it was a busy leafy street, but it's just a laneway ... there are no people pushing prams ... keeping the bins there is not causing anyone harm."

"Threatening people with a hefty fine during this cost-of-living crisis is unfair."

Most of the houses in the neighbourhood are narrow terraces with limited spaces for storing rubbish bins.

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"The alternative to leaving them out is putting them near the front door, or inside their home," the resident said.

The council says it only checks for bins left out on streets when it receives a complaint.

"Woollahra Council is conscious of the need to protect the amenity of all residents and seeks to ensure that bins on local roads, laneways and paths do not block traffic and pedestrians, but we do not actively monitor for such instances and act only when complaints are received," a spokesperson said.

"While we understand that it is not always possible for bins to be collected immediately, in the first instance our staff attempt to talk to residents as education, rather than the issuing of warning notices and fines is our preferred outcome."

Earlier this month, a council in South Australia triggered national headlines when it threatened to fine residents $312 for placing their rubbish bins on the street too early, or leaving them out too long.

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