Learn how to use your new kitchen caddy and lime-green bin like a pro to do your bit for the planet.
We are introducing a new food and organics collection service to help local residents reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, as part of our Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030.
More than 9000 stand-alone and low-rise homes have already received a new lime-green-lidded wheelie bin, kitchen caddy and their first supply of compostable bin liners.
This is the initial stage of a service that will be rolled out across the municipality over the next two years.
Data from the first group of homes will help us understand and meet the challenge of collecting food and organic waste from more multi-unit dwellings and high-rise properties.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said food and garden waste makes up almost 50 per cent of waste sent to landfill by our residents, which creates emissions that contribute to climate change.
‘Every tonne of food waste we can prevent from ending up in landfill is better for the environment and also reduces the cost of dumping into our landfills,’ the Lord Mayor said.
‘This is a practical way that we can encourage residents to become more sustainable by providing a food and organics collection service.
‘We are investing $1 million in establishing this new service, which will also create five jobs.’
Environment portfolio lead Councillor Rohan Leppert said that organic waste collected will be repurposed as mulch for parks and gardens.
‘Locals taking up the program will be putting their food waste to good use. We’re transforming garbage into greenery, with the food scraps used to help our local vegetation flourish,’ Cr Leppert said.
After extensive research into how to reduce odours and amenity issues, properties participating in the food and garden waste service will move to a fortnightly collection of 240 litre comingled recycling bins.
Households with smaller recycling bins can get a free upgrade to a 240 litre bin to make sure they have enough room to recycle.
The 120 litre food and garden organics and 120 litre landfill bins will be collected weekly.
‘We have found that most 240 litre recycling bins are only 50 per cent full when collected weekly and that a lot of recycling is incorrectly placed in rubbish bins,’ Cr Leppert said.
‘Most people in our community want to do their part by reducing waste but we need everyone to play their part and reduce contamination of recycling.’
If your food and organics waste collection has not yet started, you can still start impactful new habits with a discounted home composting system, worm farm or bokashi bucket, or by joining your local composting community.
How to use the new bins
Find out more, including what can and can’t go in the new lime-green lidded bins, at Food and garden waste.
Love Food Hate Waste
The best way to reduce waste is to avoid creating it in the first place. To do your bit in the kitchen, cook to a meal plan, get creative with leftovers, store food correctly to avoid spoilage. Find out more on Sustainability Victoria’s Love Food Hate Waste webpage.
