Forest Lake has some of the greenest thumbs in Brisbane with the suburb’s residents ordering the second most green bins across Brisbane in 2023.
New figures reveal 228 green bins were ordered by Forest Lake residents in 2023, second only to those in The Gap residents who ordered 10 bins more.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the volume of orders from Forest Lake shows local residents are passionate about doing their part to keep the city clean.
“Brisbane is regarded as a clean, green and sustainable destination and all of us have a part to play to ensure that continues,” Cr Schrinner said.
“Every new green bin ordered means we are diverting more green waste from landfill and preserving the beauty of our city for years to come.”
Forest Lake resident of 20 years Nikki Mostyn believes community pride plays a part in Forest Lake’s green thumbs.
“A Lot of families move to the area and realise the sense of pride within the area and this just flows on,” she said.
“When the Covid pandemic was new, people turned to gardening as a form of stress relief, kept themselves busy and found a love for it.”
From July 1st 2023, the Schrinner Council slashed the annual cost of a green bin by 50 per cent, meaning residents are able to tend to their yards, clean up their gutters and weed their garden beds for less than $1 a week.
Cr Schinner said the initiative has seen almost 14,000 more bins ordered in the last year.
“By cutting these costs for residents, we can ease cost of living pressures and encourage even more people to embrace sustainable living options at home,” he said.
“This is just one of many sustainability programs our council promotes to make living green at home even easier.
“From January 1st this year, our compost rebate was increased from $70 to $100 per household, to allow more homes to purchase eligible composting and worm farming equipment.
“Since we started this program in 2020, more than 15,000 residents have taken the change to add a compost bin to their homes.
“We want to find ways to add more services, not remove them, and that’s why as long as I am Lord Mayor we will continue to collect red top bins each week.”
The decision to slash the annual cost of green waste recycling bins comes after the Schrinner Council dropped the $30 establishment fee in 2019.
As a result, an additional 57,000 green waste recycling bins have now been ordered by Brisbane households while an extra 152,000 tonnes of green waste are diverted from landfill each year.
Visit brisbane.qld.gov.au and search ‘green waste recycling service’ to place a green bin order online or phone Council on 3403 8888.
