Wheelie Serious - Bin Placement Ballot to Launch After Kerbside Tensions Explode

Finn Seabrook | Local Correspondent | The Shire Gazette

23 June 2025

Years of silent street warfare may soon be over. In a bold attempt to curb kerbside chaos, a local bin lobby group is planning a new proposal to introduce a ballot system determining who gets to put their bins in the prime spot on the street kerb each week.

The plan, dubbed Operation Wheelie Fair, after years of passive-aggressive warfare between neighbours and escalating tensions across some Shire suburbs, with reports of pre-dawn bin placements, retaliatory lid-flips, and a woman in Caringbah South erecting makeshift witches’ hats to protect her patch.

“Some of these streets are tighter than Coles Sutherland car park,” said lobby group member Donna. “We’ve had incidents - wheelie bins tipped, lids left open, and one bloke reportedly roped off a section of kerb like it was a VIP area at Northies.”

Under the proposed system, residents would enter a weekly Kerbside Placement lottery ballot. Winners would receive exclusive wheelie bin-placement rights and a laminated certificate for their bin, signifying their one week reign.

Reaction from locals has been mixed.

 “This is a win for democracy,” said one Taren Point man.

“Bin bureaucracy gone mad,” muttered another from Engadine, after wheeling his recycling two driveways down “in protest.”

A Council spokesperson, who abstained from comment but was seen wheeling his own bins into an unusually well-positioned spot outside Council HQ, says the proposal will “bring fairness, order, and a sense of occasion to waste disposal.”

The motion is rumoured to be aiming to be put to vote next month, followed by public consultation.

Stay tuned