Push to kerb waste

Push to kerb waste

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Canning councillor Sara Saberi wants homes across the city to be provided with a third rubbish bin for green waste. Photograph – Aaron Van Rongen.

The City of Canning is investigating supplying homes with a third rubbish bin for green waste in a bid to further reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

  • The City of Canning council voted in support of a review into supplying homes with a third bin for green waste.
  • In Perth 13 local governments have signed up to the Better Bins project, which promotes reducing bin size and introducing green waste bins.
  • The City of Melville, which introduced such a system in 2017, was said to be targeting an 85 per cent drop in waste going to landfill because of it.

At its December 19 meeting council voted in support of exploring the benefits of the so-called Better Bins Kerbside Collection Program, which would include the introduction of a third bin to each home.

The BBKCP is a West Australian Waste Authority program and it is believed the city investigation into whether its implementation would be worthwhile will be delivered to council around July.

The Better Bins program was introduced in 2014 and has so far been taken up by 13 local governments in Perth according to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.

Councillor Sara Saberi raised the motion at the December council meeting and said it was important for the City of Canning to take a progressive stance on waste management.

“I think it’s important to make sure we reduce, reuse and recycle,” she said.

“A lot of countries in Europe have moved to it, and a lot of councils are moving to it.”

Ms Saberi worked at the City of Melville in 2017, when it introduced a Perth-first program that asked residents to separate compostable food waste into a third bin.

She said Melville had predicted an 85 per cent drop in waste heading to landfill because of the program.

“Shouldn’t we be doing something like that?” she said.

The motion was originally for the introduction of the three-bin system, but council agreed it would be best to conduct a formal investigation into its value first.

Ms Saberi said she brought the motion to council in the hope it could take advantage of a Department of Water and Environmental Regulation grant which offers up to $30 for each household to take on a reduced-size general waste bin and also a green waste bin – over one million dollars if the city signed up to the biggest waste reduction program.

However, the grant application period ends on March 30, meaning it is unlikely the city will be able to access funding support from that avenue.