Page 1139 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Statement of priorities
Ministerial statement
MR STEEL (Murrumbidgee—Minister for City Services, Minister for Community Services and Facilities, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Roads) (11.01): I am pleased to speak today on the first six months of my ministerial appointment and outline the government’s priorities within my portfolios of city services, community services and facilities, multicultural affairs, and roads. In the last six months the ACT government have continued to deliver on our election commitments, respond to the needs of Canberrans and show leadership on progressive policy that will improve the lives of all people.
Our government is committed to a responsible approach to managing the environment. We believe in and value the importance of improving our recycling rates and in reducing the amount of waste going into landfill. We have set an ambitious target of diverting 90 per cent of our waste from landfill by 2025. We are on track to meet this target. Our government is wasting no time and is bringing in new services for Canberrans to reduce our waste production.
Delivery of green bins to the Canberra community has been and continues to be a priority for the government. It is a priority because our government is committed to reducing waste going into landfill. After the success we had with the initial rollout in Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and Kambah, we brought forward the Canberra-wide rollout of the program from June 2020 to 1 April 2019. We have prioritised this highly popular service and delivered it on budget and ahead of schedule.
The government continues to successfully implement the container deposit scheme. Since its implementation, over 16 million containers have been returned. The China national sword policy has seen a significant change in the market for recyclables. The importance of providing high quality and clean recycling resources for industry is greater than ever. The container deposit scheme has been vital in providing a waste stream low in contamination. Further work is to come on educating the community on the benefits of the container deposit scheme and delivering further locations to make it even easier to recycle.
As the community moves away from the linear economy, the ACT government has continued to show leadership to build a circular economy. We have put circular economy principles into practice with a trial of different recycled materials in asphalt. This year we will resurface one million square metres of road. Part of the resurfacing will now incorporate soft plastics, used printer toner cartridges, crushed glass and reclaimed asphalt materials. In each tonne of the innovative materials we are trialling, we will reuse 800 plastic bags, 300 glass bottles, 18 printer toner cartridges and 250 kilograms of reclaimed asphalt. We will continue to look at how we can procure more recycled materials for our roads, with approximately 3,150 kilometres of roads in the ACT, improving the amount of recycled product in our resurfacing program and significantly reducing the amount of waste going into landfill.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video