The government announced a $1.7 million pilot of the long-awaited garden waste scheme in May, trialling the service to homes in Weston Creek and Kambah.

A review was to be held after 12 months to ensure the green waste scheme was workable.

Last month, before the pilot began, Labor promised it would give green bins to Tuggeranong homes by mid-2017, while hinting more areas of Canberra would later be included in a phased rollout.

Now, Labor has announced it will take the service to every Canberra household that wants one by mid-2020.

Green bins would be rolled out to Belconnen by mid-2018, and next to the inner north, inner south, and Woden by mid-2019. Gungahlin and Hall would receive green bins by mid-2020.

It has been costed at $15.1 million over the four years.

The scheme is opt-in only, and is aimed at recycling an estimated 5000 tonnes of green waste that goes to landfill.

The green bins will be collected fortnightly and will cost a one-off deposit of $50, which would be waived for pensioners and concession card holders.

It says the timeline would allow 80 per cent of Canberra homes to access a green bin within two years of the scheme beginning.

Labor has also pledged to introduce a suburb-by-suburb bulky waste pick up service for every Canberra home - a service already announced in July, which would cost $12.7 million.

Charity organisation Givit would be funded to take "real and urgent requests" to take away donated goods.

Labor says it is following the same approach as the introduction of recycling bins in the 1990s, in which a localised pilot was conducted before a broader release.

"We want this to work, and the only way to do this is through a staged approach," a spokeswoman said.

The government had previously dismissed the idea of green bins as too expensive, after the Liberals proposed it before the 2012 election.