Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announces green bin rollout in 2025 budget

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has defended the rollout of green “garden waste” bins.

Brisbane City Council will introduce green bins across the city.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has defended the rollout of green “garden waste” bins, which would require ratepayers to spend $49.52 a year for the bins, unless they already have one.

It was announced Brisbane City Council will introduce a citywide green bin rollout, with ratepayers waste levy set to rise by almost $50-a-year, even if people don’t want one.

In a bid to save ratepayers millions of dollars in waste levies, council announced in its annual budget that it would rollout green bins to every resident over the coming months.

But, ratepayers would be slugged an extra $49.52 a year for the bins, unless they already had one.

“We’ve been upfront about the fact that we were going to do it, but we actually had to apply to the state government for some funding support for that,” Mr Schrinner told 4BC radio on Thursday.

“We actually ordered the bins last year. They’ve been actually sitting at our resource recovery centres for some months now, ready to be rolled out.”

Adrian Schrinner speaks at the budget hand down in City Hall. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The council would pay less to the government if the volume of waste dropped as a result of more green bins diverting waste from landfill.

The news comes after weeks of speculation the plans would be included in the budget, with aerial photos of the Nundah council depot showing thousands of wheelie bins were stored there.

On Wednesday Mr Schrinner used the announcement to slam the former Labor Government’s bin tax for increasing costs for ratepayers.

“If you removed the impact of the State Government’s ‘bin tax’ council’s waste charge for houses that don’t have a green bin would only have increased by the normal annual amount – 3.87 per cent, or around $4 a quarter,” Mr Schrinner said.

“The bin tax really was a trojan horse tax on southeast Queensland residents.”

Mr Schrinner on Thursday also backed the decision to have inner-city apartment buyers face a $100-a-year jump in their rates if they purchase a unit after October 1.

“If you look at the new inner-city apartments that are being built, many of them are multi-million dollar apartments,” Mr Schrinner said.

“Someone living in an inner-city Brisbane apartment will still be paying less than someone who lives in Logan, for example.

“If you’re paying $2m for an apartment, you’re not going to be worried about $25 a quarter.”

He also confirmed that Story Bridge’s footpath will be receiving a new deck which will take 17 weeks to manufacture before installation.

What the council said on Wednesday about green bins

Council claimed the rollout will save residents between $2 million and $3 million in the first year, and up to $32 million over five years.

Unit owners and others could opt out of receiving a green bin, but would still pay the extra amount thanks to the new universal waste fee.

It means all bins (red, yellow and green) would be collected under the same fee, which has raised to $512.96 a year.

Greens bins have left some seeing red.

Half of all eligible households, about 170,000, currently have a green bin.

Mr Schrinner, in his budget speech, poked fun at the Opposition for leaking the plans earlier this month.

“The stockpiles of green bins we now have at our resource recovery centres ready for the rollout are so large you could probably see them from space.

“So I’ve watched in amusement in recent weeks as those opposite fell over each other trying to claim credit for our roll out of green bins,” he said.

Red bin collections would not be reduced to once a fortnight to accommodate the new service, Mr Schrinner confirmed.

The first bins will begin to roll out from August.

Originally published as Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announces green bin rollout in 2025 budget