Page 764 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 5 April 2022
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implemented across Canberra. After the election, Minister Steel was able to expand that to Bruce, Cook and Macquarie, representing a diverse cross-section of household types.
It began in November last year, and it is worth noting that, if a household did not already have a green waste bin, they were provided one free of charge. Now that we are in the pilot stage, we are actively listening and learning. This is exactly what the nature of a trial is: to test and to learn. As Minister Steel emphasised, there have been no final decisions made. It is a pilot. But the facts are that the trial has been widely embraced. This is not unexpected, given how strongly the community embraced it as an election commitment, and this has translated into the actions the community has demonstrated.
We have seen an incredibly low level of contamination. I acknowledge that Ms Lawder, and Mrs Kikkert to an extent, have flagged that FOGO as a concept is a success. But we also appreciate that this is a transition and a period of adjustment, and that households come in all shapes and sizes and have different needs. That is exactly why so much thought was given to providing a suburb mix that was so diverse. I do want to acknowledge the contributions we have heard today and the matters of dignity and wellbeing at the heart of many of them.
Households can order a larger bin for a small fee, and 1.5 per cent of households participating in the trial have done so. I think it is worth reflecting that this is a very small amount. This remains a learning period. Households have been encouraged to provide feedback, including to that direct email address and via an existing online survey. Four months in, I am pleased to learn that City Services will be undertaking a detailed survey of pilot participants to better drill down into their experiences with it and inform the full rollout.
The detailed survey will seek to understand the household type and size, the types of bins the household uses, how often the household uses the bin for household scraps, and, if they have not been, why not—noting that there could be different reasons for this. It also seeks to understand how households have transitioned in their use of their rubbish bin, or red bin, including whether or how often they have run out of room and if there are any particular circumstances that might be contributing to a larger amount of waste being generated.
The survey also asks questions about general satisfaction and what, if any, changes constituents would like to see, and whether households are interested in purchasing the compost that is being created from this initiative. I commend Minister Steel for going into this level of detail with residents to help inform and to help consider and address the needs of all parts of the community.
Going briefly to Ms Lawder’s points in the motion regarding no scheme existing to incentivise or encourage the use of recyclable nappies and her calls to investigate a recyclable nappy rebate scheme, it was amusing and perhaps bemusing to see a copy and paste of my motion that was debated in this place and responded to in the last term of parliament. The opposition does have form in recycling ideas!
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