Canberra Residents currently don't have access to green waste collection services, despite them being common place in many other local government areas (LGA's) across the country. Canberra should be a city leading the way in best practice environmental management and that means taking all possible actions to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill each year.  Studies in other LGA's has shown that prior to implementation of green waste collection services, up to 20% of General Waste was comprised of Garden Organic Waste materials. 

Just over the border in Queanbeyan, the Council has provide a fortnightly green waste collection service for more than 14 years.  According to a Waste Audit Report prepared on behalf of Queanbeyan City Council in May 2013, the average household produced 2.2kg of green waste per week which was collected using the three bin system!

According to the 2011 census data, there were 145,475 dwellings counted in the ACT. If each of those dwellings is producing 2.2kg of green waste per week, that equates to more than 16,642 tonnes of green waste per annum!

Currently the only disposal method for green waste in Canberra is to privately transport waste to one of three collection centres operated by private enterprise.  These private operators then re-purpose the waste product into saleable organic garden materials for purchase by the public.

For many Canberrans, and particularly those that are getting older, it can be a physical demanding task that requires access to a trailer or utility vehicle.  The lack of a kerbside collection service significantly disadvantages our older citizens and the economically disadvantaged.  The numbers impacted by the lack of this service will increase as our population ages.  Disposing of weeds and prunings can be a major problem for many ACT residents and much of this garden material is not suitable for home composting.  Canberra residents deserve a service that is comparable to our neighbour's across the border!

Based on a sample of fees and charges from a variety of LGA's around the country, the average cost to households for a fortnightly 240 litre green waste collection service is between $75 and $120 per annum.

Please sign this petition to show our Minister that Canberra wants a regular scheduled green waste collection service as part of the current domestic waste management process and that we want it funded in the 2016-2017 ACT Budget.