“We know from the survey a majority of people want it back and a lot of people have been continuing to recycle by taking it TO the waste depot,” Mayor Dawn Collins said.

“We are going out on our own.”

Council received 189 responses from its questionnaire which asked residents to respond with either a yes or no as to whether they would pay for a kerbside recycling service costed at between $70-$80. Council’s general manager Ian Rogan said about 70 per cent of respondents supported council seeking the service.

“The message to the council was, from the community, both verbal and via this feedback was that a clear majority of residents are in favour of re-establishing a kerbside recycling service,” he said. “In the survey form that we sent to all households it indicated this $70 to $80 estimate and it also indicated that meant an extra $40 to $50 in their waste management bill, that was very clearly stated.”

About one-quarter of people who responded positively also commented “subject to cost’’.

Mr Rogan was unsure how the cost would be affected by the absence of Wellington and Dubbo councils from the negotiations but said the contractor’s tender was still “indicative” of the $70 to $80 price tag.

Seventy per cent was also a figure thrown around the corridors of Wellington council but with a very different outcome.

Wellington was engaged in a tender calling on a kerbside recycling service along with Narromine and Dubbo until almost 600 residents responded to a council survey with about 70 per cent saying they did not want it if it would see an increase in costs by $80 to $100 per year.

The negative backlash was also accompanied by a petition containing 157 signatures against a Wellington kerbside recycling service.

Cr Collins believes the contrasting public attitudes in the two communities is because Wellington Shire has never had kerbside recycling.