Environmental initiatives

Alice Springs Town Coun­cil has intro­duced an new ini­tia­tive to tack­le over­grown grass across our town. 

In the scheme, called Verge­care, Coun­cil is offer­ing a $30 vouch­er to eli­gi­ble res­i­dents who main­tain their verge. These vouch­ers can be redeemed at any Coun­cil facility. 

Coun­cil vot­ed to run the ini­tia­tive at February’s Ordi­nary Meet­ing with vouch­ers run­ning out once a $20,000 lim­it has been reached. 

“The idea of this scheme is to get on top of the over­grown grass around our town as soon as pos­si­ble,” Coun­cil­lor Mark Cof­fey said. 

“Recent heavy rain and a com­bi­na­tion of oth­er fac­tors has led to over­grown grass spread­ing through Alice Springs. The intent of this scheme is to improve both the aes­thet­ic and safe­ty of our town by tack­ling this issue.”

To apply for a vouch­er, res­i­dents must take a before and after pho­to of their verge and attach them this appli­ca­tion form (click here). Res­i­dents must also attach a pho­to includ­ing proof of address i.e. a util­i­ty bill.

That appli­ca­tion form can be sub­mit­ted to vergecare@​astc.​nt.​gov.​au and will be assessed by Coun­cil Officers. 

Once an appli­ca­tion has been approved, the res­i­dent will be noti­fied via email and they will be able to col­lect their vouch­er from the Civic Centre.

Appli­ca­tions for the scheme opened on Thurs­day 3 March and vouch­ers for suc­cess­ful appli­cants are now ready to col­lect. All res­i­den­tial prop­er­ties, exclud­ing unit blocks, are eli­gi­ble to apply. 

All vouch­ers must be redeemed by Fri­day 3 June 2022. All vouch­ers are sin­gle use only and any unused funds on vouch­ers will not be refund­ed in the form of cash or credit. 

Apply now! CLICK HERE to fill in an appli­ca­tion form. 

Terms and Con­di­tions apply — CLICK HERE to read the Verge­care Ini­tia­tive Terms and Conditions.

Weed man­age­ment guide­line — how to clean your equip­ment when man­ag­ing your verge:

It is impor­tant that we reduce the spread of seeds when man­ag­ing our verges. To do so, ensure the following:

1. Begin verge man­age­ment with clean equipment.
2. After man­ag­ing an area, ensure your equip­ment is cleaned before using it elsewhere.

With clean equip­ment we can ensure that seeds are not trans­port­ed to a new area where they can ger­mi­nate and infest. 

Clean­ing your mow­er or whip­per snip­per, or any equip­ment used on your verge, can be as sim­ple as wash­ing it down with water or with a blow­er in a designed area where weeds can’t trav­el. Ensure that clumps of soil and plant mat­ter are removed before being trans­port­ed elsewhere. 

Don’t for­get to check your cloth­ing and footwear!