In April every year the “Sanitation Management Volunteers”, (a small team of volunteer labourers), descend upon the sewerage treatment area to harvest the vetiver grass. The grass is cut on Friday using whipper snippers and a hedger. Saturday sees the grass loaded by hand on to an assortment of utes and transported to local farmers to be used as stock feed and ground cover/mulch. A final run over the area with a ride-on mower completes the job for another year.

Back of the envelope calculations:

It is estimated that approximately 30 hours volunteer labour was required to harvest the vetiver grass.
Using $50/hour (say a landscape gardener or labourer) as a basis, the job costs out at around $1,500
It’s worth noting that all the equipment, vehicles and fuel was provided by the volunteers