A FINAL hard rubbish collection is underway in Vincent, but the tradition of furnishing your house with verge findings has been killed off early with recent Covid concerns leading to a ban on rummaging through piles. 

After decades of messy-but-fun verge collections, starting January 2022 the council’s running an 18 month trial of an on-request verge collection service.

The current collection was meant to be a last hurrah for scavengers, but the spectre of a Delta strain outbreak has seen them banned.

Council flyers advise residents “to prevent the spread of Covid-19, sifting through waste is strictly prohibited”. 

Prior to Delta popping up in Perth a softer warning advised that removing material was “strongly discouraged” due to the risk of spreading Covid-19. 

The new on-request collection trial came about after increasing complaints over prolonged periods of messy verges, and a decline in scavengings since many people now use online “buy nothing” communities to re-gift decent goods.

by DAVID BELL