Reading a Council Bin-Collection Notice
A resident receives a council notice. It states: "General waste bins are collected every Tuesday. Recycling bins are collected on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Green-waste bins are collected weekly from October to March and fortnightly from April to September. During a public holiday, collections are delayed by one day for that week only. Bins must be out by 6:00 am on collection day and brought in by 8:00 pm the same day." The resident moves in on 1 April, a Tuesday, which is also a public holiday that year.
1. State which bins the resident should put out on the morning of 1 April, and explain your reasoning.
Read the worked answer
1 April is a Tuesday and a public holiday. The notice says the public-holiday delay is for "that week only" and shifts collection by one day. So the actual collection for that week falls on Wednesday 2 April, not Tuesday.
Because the delay applies to the whole week's collection, the resident should still prepare the bins that would normally go out on Tuesday. General waste is weekly, so the general waste bin is due. Recycling is collected on the first Tuesday, and 1 April is the first Tuesday, so recycling is also due.
Green waste: April falls in the fortnightly period (April–September), so it is not automatically weekly. The resident should put out general waste and recycling, ready for the Wednesday collection.
2. The resident wants to know how many green-waste collections they will receive in April and May combined, assuming no further public holidays.
Read the worked answer
From April to September, green waste is fortnightly. April has four Tuesdays and May has four Tuesdays (in this scenario), giving 8 Tuesdays over the two months.
Fortnightly means every second Tuesday, so the number of collections is 8 ÷ 2 = 4 collections across April and May.
A careful answer notes that the exact count depends on which Tuesday the fortnightly cycle starts, so the answer could be 4 (or 3–4 if the cycle is offset). The key reasoning is that fortnightly collection halves the number of weekly slots.
3. A neighbour says, "Because of the public holiday, I can leave my bin out until Thursday morning." Using the notice, explain whether this is correct.
Read the worked answer
The notice says bins must be brought in by 8:00 pm on the same day as collection. Under the public-holiday rule, the collection moves to Wednesday, so "the same day" becomes Wednesday. The bin must be brought in by 8:00 pm Wednesday, not left until Thursday morning.
The neighbour has confused the delayed pickup day with permission to leave the bin out longer. The delay shifts the collection day by one day but does not extend the bring-in deadline beyond that shifted day. So the neighbour's statement is incorrect.