Council charges $23.50 for dumping a van, ute or box trailer load at its Tharbogang and Yenda landfills - a cost some locals believed was compelling residents to dump elsewhere.

Griffith man Leon Thorpe has been taking regular walks around Scenic Hill for more than 60 years and said the rubbish build-up was getting worse.

He called for council to stop charging for non-commercial dumping at landfill sites.

“The rubbish and junk on the hill this week is exceeded only by the dumpings that accumulated at the time long ago when Scenic Hill became host to officially designated garbage sites,” Dr Thorpe said.

“Our council should take immediate proactive steps to make our Tharbogang landfill site more than just user-friendly.

“The current council procedure has been used for far too long and any cursory glance over Scenic Hill will show that such a policy has been a dim failure for years.”

Dr Thorpe suggested council reward the dumping of rubbish at designated landfill sites with vouchers or passes to council facilities instead of charging a fee.

The criticism comes at a time when council is reviewing its bulky waste collection process, which costs about $75,000 per year.

In a letter to The Area News last week, Griffith resident Karen Lewis shared her disgust at the cost of both waste disposal methods.

She suggested Griffith’s council follow in the footsteps of others by sending tip passes out with rates notices, or having a “drop and shop” recycling centre for items that may still be useful.

Tidy Towns committee chairwoman, Councillor Pat Cox, said free landfill passes had been trialled several years ago but had limited results, with landowners not passing them on to their tenants.

She said abolishing landfill fees was not an option.

“It is a requirement of local government that landfill has a budget and covers its costs,” Cr Cox said.

“If no one is charged, the facility will have no income.

“There has been a lot spent on the Tharbogang site in recent years to allow us to open up some additional areas so the landfill will cater for Griffith for many more years.”

Cr Cox said every resident who volunteered on the city’s clean-up days in March and August would be entitled to a free landfill voucher.