Tuesday 22 June 2010

Green Bin

I need to get out more because I get excited about things like the new Green Wheelie Bin which I have just ordered from my local city council. And I really shouldn't, should I?

It's a new fortnightly garbage service offered by the Brisbane City Council to recycle your green waste. (Yeah, I might have to start a new hobby).

I don't know about you but whenever Jason and I work in the garden we generate mountainous piles of green waste which we have to cart off to the dump.

We don't own a ute or a trailer, so it is just a pain. We generally try to put it in our normal garbage bin each week or pay for someone to cart it away. We do have a compost bin but there is only so much that it can take.

This service is perfect for us. You can put lawn clippings, prunings, weeds and leaves into the bin and then it is carted away to make compost. Wonderfully eco and more importantly less work for us!

Unfortunately, it is not free. There is an initial set up fee of about $30 and then a quarterly charge of about $16 on your rates bill and you are committed for a minimum of 12 months.


Green Bin image from here

The service is probably not for everyone but it is still cheaper than hiring a green mini-skip or renting a trailer for a day, which we have done in the past.

The Green Bin will be delivered from next month and collection will start in September for our area - perfectly timed for spring.

18 comments:

  1. We have that service. Our bin is an unattractive maroon colour. Really quite inappropriate. Your colour is much better.

    It is fantastic in autumn and I think every two weeks works about right, we don't have overflow that often. Good on BCC for getting with the program!!!

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  2. Oh that's great feedback. I'm glad you like your green bin even if it's maroon. Maybe they wanted to colour match it to fallen leaves?

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  3. I love that you get excited about this stuff! I recall as a child having what seemed like a mountain of yard waste on our front drive at various points. We used to try to scale it like mountain climbers, until my parents got a similar service to this one. It was a bittersweet day that the mountain disappeared.

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  4. We have where I live in Canada a green bin program for kitchen and food waste (in Toronto you put your doggie poop in it). Our other garbage is picked up bi-weekly, green food bin weekly and leaf and garden waste every 2 weeks in large paper sacks.

    I too was very excited to get my green bin. I laughed at the time because I was excited, but my neighbour groaned and complained about mor "crap" he had to deal with.!

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  5. We have this too - not the council though - just a private contractor. It's wonderful not to have to journey to the tip - although I did just love going to the tip as a kid with my dad!

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  6. Great idea and looks like you are going to be committed to your garden for at least 12 months, so we shall no doubt see some green thumb blogging. Another option is the garden bags (Oz greencycle - now known as 4 waste removals) which is a big hessian garden bag in a frame and you nominate the frequency of pickups and can vary at any time. They just swap the bag over.. Happy gardening!!!!

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  7. Thanks for reminding me ... I have the leaflet next to my computer but did not realise today was the last day to register in our area for delivery in Sept. Going to order now. Don't worry, I'm also secretly excited about the new bin!!

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  8. Maybe I need to get out more, because I would love to see something like that. Taking stuff to the compost pile is a bit of a hassle, having someone else do it for me is something I'd pay for.
    And you know, as more people get into this, the price will go down.

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  9. I'd be excited too! We have 3 compost bins that are constantly overflowing and a massive pile of greenwaste we keep telling ourselves we'll take to the tip. I'd happily pay the extra and it would be jam-packed full every week!

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  10. What a great service, I lived in Brisbane 12 yrs ago & we used to have a green bag that a private company used to rent out. They where a big hessian bag on a frame & they came & swapped it for a newbie every 2nd week. Here in Newcastle, NSW it costs $25 for a trailor load of stuff at the tip so your green bin is good value!
    Cheers

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  11. Oh about time. We have that in Sydney. In fact we have 4 ugly bins sitting in our carport - one for green, one for bottles and tins, one for paper and one for normal waste - but they all get pretty full and it's much easier than carting it to the tip. When I lived in Brisbane we had a leaf pile up the back yard that Dad would empty the mower clippings on and we would pile up the sticks and leaves. Then every Saturday afternoon we would burn it off. Can't do that now. Have fun filling your new bin.

    Jennifer XX

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  12. I got excited about this too and also about the bigger yellow bins available. Have to order them now. Thanks for the Renovators Barn tip! Must check that out. :)

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  13. I was excited too but to be honest don,t know if I generate enough green waste, I do wish they collected the recycle stuff weekly instead of fortnightly though

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  14. I would get excited about that too. What a great idea. We don't have them yet. If we did I would blog about it too. Yippee. PS I am still loving your new blog look. It really seems to suit your style.

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  15. Well I must be a wheelie bin tragic because I would without doubt get excited about that. The ACT government could do with a razz from your council...we've got lots of waste of all colours here!

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  16. Or you could just borrow my 8X5 cage trailer for nix.

    For a smart girl, sometimes you are a clod

    Love

    Tony from Emerald

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  17. definitely excitable worthy in my opinion. yay green waste collection!
    ~laura

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  18. Oh Tony, I would need you to drive it to the dump too. Trailers and the Fun and VJs gang just aren't a safe combination. And Jason's on his last three points too.

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