Green bins for all in next term: ALP

justin heywood said :

Good ideas this. It’s amazing how keen politicians become on serving our basic needs when they put their minds to it.

I think we should have much more of these elections things.

Agreed. Finally, green bins and hard rubbish collections like all other capital city residents in Australia. It’s only taken them 10 years.
I still reckon we could do with an audit of municipal services to see where our money actually goes, compared to (e.g.) Queanbeyan Council and/or a western Sydney Council such as Baulkham Hills.

The image in this article has Andrew Barr next to a bin which has the CBR logo on it.

I am immediately suspicious that this scheme may be a way to “back-door” fund the CBR “project”.

Does anyone know who is actually going to collect the bins and who is going to receive and process the contents? How much will this cost ratepayers?

Maya123 said :

rommeldog56 said :

Good point. Perhaps a “Green Bins” levy on each and every Annual Rates bill, regardless of opting in or out.?

What justification is your argument for this, other than perhaps you plan to get a green bin and want others to subsidise you.

Justification ? It has to be paid for and it is very expensive as per ACT Labor/Greens comments last time it was raised. Unless its full cost recovery from users who “opt in”, then the cost will be borne by all ACT Ratepayers, whether they use it or not.

And no, I wont be opting in – no need.

Good ideas this. It’s amazing how keen politicians become on serving our basic needs when they put their minds to it.

I think we should have much more of these elections things.

Garfield said :

The $50 deposit might take care of delivering the bin to each household, but how much is the ongoing service going to add to everyone’s Rates bills? Privately owned and operated trash pack services do a pretty good job at the moment for a reasonable price, but they’ll all be out of business once this comes in.

To be clear you need to elect in most cases for your green waste to go to green recycling with a trash pack service, otherwise you just send it to tip with those services and its wasted, save for some of the biomass being recouped.

You do raise a valid question though. Collection is where the cost for this service comes in, and it will vary depending on the demand for the service too long term. There’s probably arguments that diverting some stuff from landfill reduced the landfill cost and extends its life. There’s also the fact that private companies who pay tax here and employ locals process the green waste, so there’s a benefit from that, and they might even arrange some greater return from those companies who produce a product with free inputs basically.

rommeldog56 said :

How many private sector existing jobs/businesses will this “initiative” destroy ?

How many will it create?

rommeldog56 said :

Good point. Perhaps a “Green Bins” levy on each and every Annual Rates bill, regardless of opting in or out.?

What justification is your argument for this, other than perhaps you plan to get a green bin and want others to subsidise you.

I have noticed that many present green bins have had their green lids replaced with red; likely in case green waste is introduced, but if the bin wasn’t out out it missed out. In my case most weeks my green bin is not put out, so its lid is still green.

Garfield said :

The $50 deposit might take care of delivering the bin to each household, but how much is the ongoing service going to add to everyone’s Rates bills?

Good point. Perhaps a “Green Bins” levy on each and every Annual Rates bill, regardless of opting in or out.

Has ACT labor/Greens said how much it will cost ? If not, its just another “blank cheque” uncosted promise like stage 2 of the tram is. I recall a while ago, ACT Labor/Greens poo poo’ed the idea of greens bins because there were private sector providers and because it was too expensive.

How many private sector existing jobs/businesses will this “initiative” destroy ?

TuggLife said :

I have a question (well, a few questions, really) about this scheme that I haven’t been able to have answered yet, about the opt-in component.

How does it work for renters? Does the tenant or the landlord pay the $50 set-up fee? Once paid, who does the bin or service belong to? What happens when the tenant moves – can they take the bin and service with them? If it belongs to the landlord, what happens if the tenant would like a bin, but the landlord doesn’t want to pay the $50?

Very good questions! I’ve contacted Ms Fitzharris’s office to ask about this for you, @TuggLife, and will add their response in here.

I have a question (well, a few questions, really) about this scheme that I haven’t been able to have answered yet, about the opt-in component.

How does it work for renters? Does the tenant or the landlord pay the $50 set-up fee? Once paid, who does the bin or service belong to? What happens when the tenant moves – can they take the bin and service with them? If it belongs to the landlord, what happens if the tenant would like a bin, but the landlord doesn’t want to pay the $50?