Plastic bag ban, container deposit, green bins, bulky waste collection and a food waste scheme in the pipeline; could Canberra finally be a place to be proud of when it comes to rubbish disposal?
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The ACT government is looking for ways to decrease waste sent overseas and the 256,276 tonnes of waste sent to landfill in the past financial year, and implement new programs for Canberrans to encourage reuse and recycling.
Surrounding towns and cities have been providing services like bulky waste collection and food waste schemes to their communities for years, but the ACT seems to be only just catching up.
And what good news it is.
After the Council of Australian Governments resolved to ban the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres, and instead work to build the country's capacity to generate high-value recycled products, Australia is going to have to find new ways to cope with our rubbish.
At the COAG meeting in early August, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said only about 12 per cent of materials are properly recycled in Australia, and he wants that to change. He laid out a plan for the country's environment ministers to improve the recycling system.
In light of that, the ACT on Monday appointed a Minister for Recycling and Waste Reduction, Chris Steel.
In an interview with the Sunday Canberra Times, Mr Steel said food scraps were one of the first things in his sights and the ACT government had committed to start planning such a service.
He said food scraps make up 37 per cent of Canberra's average weekly waste collection, meaning there is an opportunity to divert significant volumes of waste from landfill each year by establishing a food organic waste collection service.
In another advancement in reducing waste in the ACT, a bulky waste collection scheme was announced on Friday. It means once a year, households, initially only in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin, will be able to get free collection of items like furniture, appliances and white goods. It will help prevent illegal dumping and improve recovery rates of hard waste, the new minister said.
The territory became one of the first in Australia to do something meaningful and measurable about the global problem of waste in 2011 when we banned plastic bags. But after that it seemed momentum for serious change in the capital slowed. Now, once again it seems to be full steam ahead.
Good luck, Mr Steel, in implementing these measures and more. Now more than ever the world needs people in power who are serious about reducing the complex problem of waste.
