Public charity bins trial to support jobs and recycling


Released 11/03/2021

The ACT Government and Koomari have commenced a trial to reintroduce public charity bins to support jobs for people with disabilities and encourage the recycling of textiles.

The trial will allow Koomarri to support up to 25 jobs for people who have an intellectual disability and help to redirect textiles from unnecessarily going to landfill.

Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said the trial is the first step to establishing a more long-term solution for public charity bins following their removal from public land due to illegal dumping.

“Canberrans love recycling and we want to provide opportunities for people to reuse and recycle textile items like clothing and shoes,” Minister Steel said.

“Last year illegal dumping around charity bins in public places put an unfair burden on charities during a time when their focus was supporting the pandemic recovery.

“Illegal dumping is unfair to Canberrans who are doing the right thing and it’s unfair to the charities who are left to clean up the mess left by irresponsible members of the community.

“Local not-for-profit Koomarri will trial a new model of clothing/textile recycling dropoff at two locations, after being chosen for their strong track record of consistent compliance and high reuse and return of items to the community.

“The drop off locations will be the Mitchell and Mugga Lane Resource Management Centres which will be a closely monitored safe space and will be locked at night to deter potential illegal dumping.

“If successful, we’ll be able to use this framework as the foundation for a permanent model with potentially more charities participating across Canberra.

“I remind Canberrans that anyone caught illegally dumping their waste at a charity bin or any recycling drop off centre can face fines of up to $1500 for individuals and $7500 for businesses.

“Signs are in place to inform users and CCTV cameras are working 24 hours to detect and identify individuals who decide to misuse these public facilities,” Minister Steel said.

The six-month trial is expected to be ready for public use by the end of May 2021.

For more information on how the community can correctly dispose of or recycle items, visit: www.act.gov.au/recyclopaedia.

- Statement ends -

Chris Steel, MLA | Media Releases


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