Kingborough Council has provided landowners with a free ragwort disposal service at the Alonnah Service Centre since 2006. Within the first year, over 700 bags of ragwort were collected from private land for disposal in deep burial waste facilities.
Changes to legislation have since been made and deep burial is no longer a requirement for ragwort disposal within Tasmania. The preferred method of ragwort disposal is now with general waste.
Despite the change in requirements, Council remains committed to assisting the community with the disposal of plants that have been physically removed from their properties. Approximately 45 landowners participated in the 2016-2017 ragwort bagging program and the bin was filled twice during this season.
Whilst conducting a review of Council’s Ragwort Management Program, a cost benefit analysis of the free ragwort disposal was undertaken. It was found that the service could be provided through the Bruny Island Waste Transfer Station for a fraction of the cost – for 10 per cent of the current costing.
As a result, Council will trial basing the Program at the Bruny Island Waste Transfer Station on Bruny Island Main Road. Free bags and permits will still be available at the Alonnah Service Centre. The savings gained will enable an increase in compliance activities and will provide a better outcome for the Program.
The full audit and report on the Ragwort Management Program will be released early in 2018, including the launch of new tools to benefit the community.
Further details about managing weeds in Kingborough can be found on the Weed Management webpage.
More information about the Bruny Island Waste Transfer Station can be found on the Kingborough Waste Services website.