Campaspe residents #GiveaScrap

Published on 13 July 2020

It’s been twelve months since the expansion of Campaspe Shire Council’s green bin service to include food scraps with normal garden waste, and 70 per cent of households are now on board.

General Manager Community, Keith Oberin said residents are doing the right thing by the environment and are disposing of waste more appropriately.

“The majority of our urban households now have a green bin service which plays an important role in diverting organic waste from landfill,” Mr Oberin said.

Before the green bin service expanded, food and garden organics made up half of Campaspe’s waste that was going to landfill and reducing this was the driving factor behind the change.

“Food and garden waste in landfill creates methane which is 25 times more damaging to our environment than carbon dioxide,” he said.

“Rather than ending up in landfill, this valuable resource is now being delivered to local Stanhope business Biomix, where it is turned into nutritious compost and reused on local gardens, parks and farms.”

In the first year the combined food scraps and garden organics green bin service has achieved:

• 1,900 new green bin services.
• 3,050 tonnes of food and garden waste diverted from landfill.
• 0.25% contamination rate!!! This is extremely low compared to other councils.
• Saved 4,575 Co 2e (harmful greenhouse gases) by composting food and garden waste.

Council offers a free food scrap caddy for every new green bin service ordered.

“Food scrap caddies are a clean and convenient way to transport kitchen scraps to the green bin,” Mr Oberin said.

All food scraps can be added to the green bin, including fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, seafood, meat, bones, dairy products, bread, cereal, pasta and rice as well as all leftover food – cooked and raw.

Items that cannot go in the green bin include cling wrap, nappies, baby wipes, makeup wipes, glass, plastics, liquids, and metal (bottle caps, gardening tools, wire, etc).

It is important to keep all plastic and biodegradable bags out of the green bin. Only Australian standard compostable bags with the AS4736 symbol can be used as they are made with a natural corn starch base and vegetable oils which break down once in a composting environment.

To celebrate the anniversary of the green bin service, for the month of July, Council will provide two free rolls of compostable bags to all new green bin services ordered. Residents who currently have a green bin service, will be selected at random throughout the month to also receive two rolls of compostable bags.

“The Campaspe community is to be congratulated for their efforts in reducing waste to landfill,” Mr Oberin said.