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. This is a service for which there is no obligation to provide and comes at a cost to Council. Ragwort is the only weed where Council provides such a service and the effectiveness and value of the practice will continue to be monitored.
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 of placing a bin at Alonnah.
As a result, Council trialed moving the program to the Bruny Island Waste Transfer Station on Bruny Island Main Road during the 2018 season and will continue to provide the service from this location. Free bags and permits will still be available at the Alonnah Service Centre. The savings gained will enable an increase in other support activities and will provide a better outcome for the Program.
The review and associated report was endorsed at a full Council meeting at the end of 2018 and the actions will now be implemented over time. The full audit and report on the Ragwort Management Program can be viewed below.