The City collected 700 tonnes of green waste last financial year – all of which was recycled into mulch.
And while collecting 700 tonnes of waste is a feat in itself, what makes it more remarkable is that it was collected by one dedicated staff member.
Jerry Witkowski has been with the City for 34 years and carries out the City’s weekly residential green waste collection service – the only weekly green waste collection in Perth.
To ensure Jerry can maintain a consistently high level of service to all City residents and that the service remains cost effective, several requirements do need to be met. These include:
- place all weeds, leaves and small prunings in City of Subiaco green waste bags (these can be purchased from the Administration Centre for $5 each); each bag should be no heavier than 15kg
- place a minimum of four and a maximum of ten green waste bags on your verge for collection
- place larger branches and prunings in a pile that is no larger than 3 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high
- branches and larger prunings should be no more than 1.5 metres in length and placed on the verge with the cut end towards the kerb
- any tree trunks or stumps should be no larger than 150mm in diameter and no heavier than 15kg
- green waste should not be contaminated with sand, soil or other waste.
After collection, the green waste is consolidated by the Western Metropolitan Regional Council then taken to be mulched. Much of the resulting mulch from green waste is sent for re-use into the local horticulture industry, but there is some available for residents to collect to use on their own gardens at home.