The Council is inviting visitors to this weekend's Ashburton A&P Show to learn more about biodiversity and take home a free kānuka seedling for their garden.

The Council marquee will be filled with interesting information about restoration planting and controlling predators with good trapping.

Community and Open Spaces Group Manager Toni Durham said the native plant seedlings were a popular giveaway at the show in 2023.

“We’re bringing them back because they were a great conversation starter about biodiversity and what people can plant on their rural properties or in their town gardens to provide better habitat for the birds and the bees.

“Thanks to the team from the Department of Conservation, we’ll also have examples of the sorts of traps that are well suited to our area and the types of predators we have, and our Council biodiversity advisor will be on hand to answer questions and provide practical advice.”

Eco Educate will be sharing Council’s show site, offering recycling and waste minimisation education.

The event also provides attendees the chance to meet their new councillors, elected during the recent local elections, and hear about progress on the new green bin kerbside collection service that starts in September next year.

“About 12,000 green bins have already been ordered for this new service and there’ll be lots of education for the public next year about what should and shouldn’t go those bins,” Mrs Durham said.

"Our community expressed strong support for this service, so we're looking forward to the rollout."

Council staff will be on hand to record any service requests received over the two days of the show and promote the online service request tool Snap Send Solve.