Page 4974 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
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There were many more events during the week, and congratulations to Planet Ark in particular on the week. The ACT government looks forward to supporting the initiative in the future.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, how is the rollout of green bins supporting better waste recovery? Importantly, how is Belconnen faring?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Cheyne for her supplementary. The ACT government continues to deliver on our agenda and our election commitment to grow services for the community, including green bins, which are helping to reduce the amount of garden organic waste being sent to landfill. 15,735 Belconnen households are utilising the service since collections commenced at the beginning of September. In Belconnen, that represents just over 40 per cent of all households signing up for the service in the first two months of operation.
In total, 38,294 households across Weston Creek, Tuggeranong and Belconnen have green bins, with 41 per cent being concession cardholders; 4,733 tonnes of organic waste has been collected from green bins, with an exceptional contamination rate of just 0.01 per cent; 2,746 tonnes of green waste has been collected in the Kambah and Weston Creek pilot areas since April 2017; 1,570 tonnes have been collected in the remainder of Tuggeranong since January of this year; and 417 tonnes have been collected from Belconnen so far.
Awareness is growing of the program. 2019 will be an exciting time for the remainder of Canberra, with the ACT government extending green bin services to remaining suburbs next year, ahead of schedule.
MS CODY: Minister, what impact is the container deposit scheme having on recycling?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Cody for her supplementary. The container deposit scheme continues to be embraced by the Canberra community, helping to reduce the number of containers going to landfill. From 30 June to 18 November, more than 5.7 million containers had been returned to one of nine collection points across the city. We are working with operator Re.Group to see how we can expand the number of collection points across Canberra, and make it even easier for people to deposit their containers so that we can grow the number of containers being recycled.
As we improve recycling, we are also seeing the social benefits of the scheme, particularly through community groups and schools supporting the scheme. Just a few weeks ago, I visited Daramalan College where the school has teamed up with St Vincent de Paul to provide collection points around the school. Students are encouraged to recycle their containers properly, with the proceeds goings to Vinnies. This approach has also been taken up by hotels like the Mantra on MacArthur Avenue and Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club. As a result of the CDS, St Vincent de Paul is receiving a significant revenue source to support their important work in our community.
As the container deposit scheme continues to grow, I am sure that we will continue to see the social benefits of even more containers being recycled here in Canberra.
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