Lake Macquarie residents say they are fed up with paying twice to dispose of their rubbish.
Steven Hornby owns one of the 20 apartments in a unit block at 60 Caves Beach Road, which uses private waste collector Cleanaway to pick up residents' rubbish.
"Because of the structure of the building, it's not practical to bring individual bins in and out to be picked up by council. [Rather] it's just one large pick-up," he said.
"It's like a car park out the front, there is no room to put bins out."
Despite opting for a commercial waste company, property owners are still being charged a levy fee for domestic waste pick-up by Lake Macquarie City Council.
"Why am I paying for something that I don't use?" Mr Hornby said.
He said his recent rates notice was $1078 for 12 months for a one-bedroom apartment, including a $450 charge for waste pick-up.
"It barks back to the banking royal commission 'fee-for-no-service'. Council's still charging us that despite the fact they're not even collecting our waste," he said.
"You're not servicing us so why are you charging us?"
Mr Hornby said this year was the most expensive fee he's been charged and despite contacting the council, he said there had been no resolution.
"You know, I'll pay my rates because we need libraries, we need the streets to be clean but this particular charge is absolutely offensive," he said.
"If they [council] said okay 'you guys don't use us that's your choice but we will give you a 50 per cent discount' that would be something."
Lake Macquarie City Council told the Newcastle Herald residents had raised concerns with them on multiple occasions dating back at least to 2017.
The domestic waste management charge has increased from $440 in 2019-2020 to $535 in 2023-2024.
A council spokesperson said the increases reflect operational cost increases, including the rising price of fuel, wages, recycling processing and the NSW Landfill Levy.
The spokesperson said the Office of Local Government confirmed that even properties that opted to engage their own waste collection service, were still liable for the domestic waste management levy if a council-provided service was available.
"The building's owners corporation can at any time cancel its private waste collection service and use the council service they are paying for, although this would be a matter for residents to discuss with their owners corporation," they said.
