Page 4094 - Week 15 - Thursday, 17 December 1992
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MR CONNOLLY: My understanding is that there are some still there, although we have been persuading people to go. One of the most effective methods of persuading people to go, we found, was for the parking patrols to pay particular attention to some of the interstate registered vehicles that seem to be associated with the squat and which were parked illegally. They have been accumulating an interesting collection of parking tickets.
MR CORNWELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Minister, I do not think you addressed my final question. Are you examining any procedures to render uninhabitable buildings that may be under your control and that have been declared unsafe?
MR CONNOLLY: What we do, in the first instance, is render them secure, and then any decision about - - -
Mrs Carnell: Lock people in.
MR CONNOLLY: No, lock them out. Then any decision about eventual demolition would be made.
Garbage Bins
MRS GRASSBY: My question is to the Minister for Urban Services. I am sure that everybody in the house would like to know of the progress in the experiment with the big bins in Kaleen that has been taking place. How far has that experiment got and what are the results?
MR CONNOLLY: You loosely refer to them as big bins. They are sort of medium bins. They are not the Bill Stefaniak-style big bin which was widely photographed; they are more a Tony De Domenico-style of bin. The trial in Kaleen has been extremely successful in the couple of months that it has been running. We are delighted that, whereas our previous surveys had estimated that we would be collecting about 10 tonnes of recyclables a week over the period of the trial, that is now averaging 14 tonnes. In effect, the amount of recyclables collected is above expectations to the tune of about 50 per cent. About 74 per cent of it is paper, 20 per cent is glass, with 2 per cent of steel, high density plastic, PET and aluminium cans.
It is clear that the Kaleen community is responding to the bin trial very enthusiastically. The worry was that with the two-bin method, with the medium bins or the dipper bin, perhaps, we had - - -
Mr De Domenico: Did you say, "dipper bin"?
MR CONNOLLY: Yes, as opposed to the Stefaniak bin, which was the very large one. There was a worry that people would not properly differentiate their refuse and would put a lot of recyclables in the general rubbish bin. It is clear that people are being very careful and are putting recyclables in the bin that goes to the West Belconnen recycling facility, which is well worth members having a look at, and they are being very careful to put only disposable material in the disposable bins. So, Madam Speaker, the trial is going extremely well. Urban Services will be releasing quarterly reports to keep the public and members aware of how the trial is going.
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