Highgate Hill and Dutton Park residents will be among Brisbane householders invited to participate in Brisbane City Council’s new food waste recycling pilot.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the food organics/garden organics (FOGO) pilot is a critical step towards a city-wide scheme that has the potential to prevent up to 100,000 tonnes of food waste from going to landfill each year.

“This is about diverting food waste, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, out of the general waste bin and away from landfill and disposing of it through the green waste bin so it can be turned into valuable compost and mulched to be reused.

“Currently, about one-quarter of the average household bin is food waste, so there’s an opportunity here to explore how we can provide a service and education to residents to reduce this.

Cr Schrinner said the pilot is expected to divert 2000 tonnes of food waste from landfill. When expanded across the city could reduce unnecessary food waste by nearly 100,000 tonnes a year.

“Throughout our pilot we will get feedback from participants to ascertain what works best in Brisbane’s sub-tropical climate and the infrastructure that would be required for a city of our size.”

“We want to help residents divert food waste from landfill and our food waste recycling pilot will help us build a cleaner, greener future for Brisbane.”

The Australian government has committed to halving the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030, and provide FOGO services to all households by the end of 2023.

Similar FOGO programs have operated successfully in other states for some years, and a number of Council areas in Queensland have recently introduced FOGO, Including Ipswich and Rockhanpton. A trial commenced in Townsville in November last year.

HOW THE FOOD WASTE RECYCLING PILOT WILL WORK:

  • Households in the pilot suburbs will receive a letter inviting them to participate in the service – it’s free!
  • Each participating household will receive a kitchen caddy and an education pack before the service commencing in early March.
  • Residents will place their food waste, including fruit and vegetable scraps, along with their garden waste into their green bin.
  • The green bin will be collected as part of the regular collection process.

The FOGO pilot will include households selected from Herston, Kelvin Grove, Wilston, Windsor, Alderley, Enoggera, Grange, Stafford, Clayfield, Hendra, Kalinga, Wavell Heights, Wooloowin, Chermside, Geebung, Acacia Ridge, Archerfield, Willawong, Holland Park, Mount Gravatt, Mount Gravatt East, Chelmer, Graceville, Annerley, Dutton Park, Fairfield, Greenslopes, Highgate Hill, Stones Corner, Woolloongabba.

Suburbs were selected based on their uptake of green bins.

More than 118,000 green bins are now used in Brisbane since Council introduced them in 2009.

Cr Schrinner said that while selected households will participate in the pilot program, all Brisbane residents could get involved in recycling more of their food waste through Council’s $70 rebate for compost bins and worm farms.

“It is clear that Brisbane residents are keen to do their part to reduce landfill, and this has the potential to save thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill every year.

The pilot adds to the work Council is already doing on recycling food and garden waste, including the free kitchen waste caddies and rebates of up to $70 when you purchase a compost bin or work farm, Cr Schrinner said.

Note

While recycling food waste is an important step, avoiding food waste is more important. It is estimated that food waste produces eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Much of this waste occurs before food even reaches our homes, but avoiding waste at home can help. The Australian Government says that, “if food waste was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind the USA and China.”

Cover image, Shutterstock