THE ACT Government has abandoned the majority of inner-city garbage and recycling pickups after only a small number of contractors turned up today to complete yesterday’s strike-abandoned work. 

Drivers of outgoing domestic waste contractor Cleanaway were directed back to work by Fair Work Australia after inner-suburban pick-ups stopped, despite Government assurances, in protest at what the workforce believed would be reduced salary under the incoming contractor SITA. The new contractor takes over in October.

The ACT Government says garbage will be collected today from O’Connor and parts of Dickson, Ainslie, Kingston and Griffith. Recycling will be collected from Narrabundah. Collection of household waste and recycling for the other suburbs due to be collected yesterday is not expected to be collected until the next scheduled collection date. The normal waste and recycling collections for all other suburbs are expected to resume on Monday.

A decision has been made to focus on maintaining normal household collections from Monday to prevent further disruption across Canberra.

To help offset the inconvenience to people who did not have their bins collected, the ACT Government is allowing people to dispose of the contents of their garbage bins free of charge until August 30 at Mitchell and Mugga Resource Management Centres. One free delivery will be available per vehicle.

Suburbs that missed their recycling collection may also use the following options:

• Four regional recycling drop-off centres are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These are located at Jolly Street, Belconnen; Baillieu Court, Mitchell; Botany Street, Phillip and Scollay Street, Tuggeranong. They can be used for recycling paper, cardboard, glass jars, bottles, rigid plastic containers, milk and juice cartons, aluminium cans and steel cans.

• Recycling drop-off centres are also located at the Resource Management Centres at Mitchell, Mugga and Parkwood (West Belconnen). These are open seven days a week.