Moyne Shire staff will no longer collect them on request from Port Fairy properties, instead they will be picked up quarterly.

A spokesman said council considered a report on the use of the kerbside organics bin collection and the collection of Norfolk Island pine branchlets along Port Fairy roadsides at the May council meeting.

He said responding to the many requests to collect the branches had become “extremely time consuming for staff, impacting on services such as mowing, tree trimming and general maintenance around the town

Residents are asked to stockpile branches one week prior to the quarterly council collections which will occur on the:

·         first week in March (prior to the Labour Day long weekend);

·         first week in June (prior to the Queens Birthday long weekend);

·         first week in September;

·         first week in December.

Outside those times residents are encouraged to put the branches in their kerbside waste collection organics bin.