12 April 2022

Probing the polls: daylight saving and your rubbish collection

| Genevieve Jacobs
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Rubbish

Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish – what can we do about this stinky problem? Photo: File.

Despite the grumbles from some, it seems most Canberrans enjoy their daylight saving hours over the summer.

Journalist Ian Bushnell is not among them – he argued that daylight saving is a failed experiment that should be abandoned, a manipulative nuisance that disturbs the human body’s natural function.

There was vigorous debate in our pages over the editorial.

Our question this week was: Should we ditch daylight saving? One thousand one hundred ninety-nine people voted.

Your options to vote were Yes, it doesn’t achieve much and goes on way too long (30%, 360 Votes). Alternatively, you could choose No, tweak the times a little but I like those long sunny evenings. This received 70 per cent of the total or 839 votes.

READ ALSO Liberals call for a return to weekly rubbish collection as FOGO ramps up

This week we’re wondering about how often your rubbish should be collected.

Five thousand households in Belconnen, Bruce, Macquarie and Cook have been participating in a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) scheme. Green bins and organic waste are collected weekly, but general rubbish is collected fortnightly.

The scheme is intended to reduce waste going to landfill and encourage recycling. Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said it’d been successful and environmental groups have welcomed the pilot as it keeps food scraps out of landfill and instead turns them into a useful finished product.

But not everyone is happy about the change, complaining that two weeks is too long, especially for households with small children.

READ ALSO It’s time to ditch daylight saving – for good

Opposition spokesperson for city services Nicole Lawder moved a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly on 5 April calling on the ACT Government to reverse the fortnightly garbage collection and revert to weekly pick-ups.

Ms Lawder said that while she supports recycling initiatives, she’s heard from Canberrans who are frustrated that essential services like weekly rubbish collections are being scrapped.

Opinions were deeply divided on the matter.

“I’m part of the FOGO trial and love it. Food and kitchen scraps and garden waste go in the green bin, which is collected weekly,” Angelina Macie said.

“That doesn’t leave much else to go in the red bin so fortnightly collection is sufficient. It’s great having weekly collections of green waste at this time of the year when there’s plenty to clean up in the garden.”

Sue Sutton concurred, “Maybe people should look at their waste and actively reduce it. How a family of four fills up two bins each week is beyond me. What the heck do they throw in there and it must be costing a fortune!”

But Michael Ahern said, “Typical ACT government disaster based on poor planning – higher rates for less service”.

Yuri Shukost wrote, “People used to put down the ACT government as being nothing more than a local council. A local council can manage weekly garbage collections.”

Our question this week is:

Do we need weekly rubbish collections?

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Maybe to assist in reducing wastefill the ACT government can lobby large retailers to minimise their packaging. While many people believe in waste reduction and recycling affordability and marketing pushes people toward corporate chains.

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