ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services Katy Gallagher today announced the start of a six month pilot project which aims to reduce illegal dumping at charity bin sites in the ACT.

"Charity bins are a great way for people to donate clothing, footwear and blankets to people in need, but unfortunately an estimated one third of material left at charity bins is unusable and is currently going to landfill, which creates a burden on charity organisations and an eyesore for the local community, " the Chief Minister said.

"Earlier this year I convened two roundtables with representatives from the charity sector to discuss the issue of illegal dumping at collection bin sites, the outcome of which was a decision to implement a pilot project to identify a strategy for managing illegal dumping at charity bin sites.

"Some preliminary trial activities - such as enhanced enforcement - were conducted at Gungahlin Town Centre in April/May 2012 which resulted in warnings and litter infringements being issued to members of the community who were doing the wrong thing. This activity, along with significant media publicity, saw a reduction in illegal dumping in this area within the first month," the Chief Minister said.

The pilot project will test a range of measures including enhanced enforcement as well as relocating charity bins from local suburban shopping centres in the Weston Creek area (Waramanga, Duffy, Rivett, Fisher and Holder) to a consolidated location at Cooleman Court.

The Weston Creek region currently has 24 bins operated by four charitable organisations - The Smith Family, Kidney Health Australia, Lone Fathers and Anglicare. Two bins from each charity group will be relocated to Cooleman Court for the duration of the trial period except for Anglicare whose bin is co-located with their charity shopfront. Koomari has also been invited to relocate two bins to Cooleman Court.

Charity bins that aren't being relocated to Cooleman Court will be relocated outside of the Weston Creek region, minimising the financial impacts on charity groups during the six month pilot period. Signage will be erected at locations where bins have been removed to inform the public where to find them.

During the monitoring period all participating charity groups will be required to collect data on illegal dumping and levels of donation. City Rangers will also collect information during enforcement activities.

On completion of the pilot, project findings will help inform the development and implementation of a territory-wide policy and/or code of practice for charity bins.

"I hope his will see a reduction in illegal dumping and at the same time ensure good quality, useable goods are able to be donated to charity organisations," the Chief Minister concluded.

The charity bin pilot project commences on 1 August 2012. For more details visit www.tams.act.gov.au