From food preparation offcuts right through to spoilt food hidden in the back of your fridge, the amount of food that goes to waste in every home quickly adds up.
From bin audits, wasted food makes up more than one-third of the material found in the average Geelong kerbside rubbish bin. Per household, this equates to approximately 200 kilograms per year (the same weight as a large piano!) or $2000 in wasted food!
We're working to address this issue through trying innovative solutions to help residents reduce the amount of material sent to landfill.
For Kayla Partington and her family, food waste avoidance and reduction solutions are business as usual.
At their Lara home, fruit and vegetable waste is broken down in their worm farm and compost bin.
A lot of remaining meal leftovers are also taken care of by the four chickens in the backyard.
"As much as we personally try to create our own little circular economy, there is still some food waste that even chickens won't eat," Kayla said.
The unavoidable food waste – such as meat, bones, seafood, citrus skins and onion peels - have long gone into the red bin.
But through the City's new food waste collection trial initiative for 1500 homes in Lara, all remaining food waste produced by Kayla's family will now be processed into compost instead of being sent to landfill.
All food waste can be collected in the council issued kitchen benchtop caddy using compostable caddy liners, before being transferred to a new 60-litre orange (lid) bin.
The orange bin is collected from kerbside weekly, before being processed into compost for use on local farms and in parks.
"It's so wonderful to see that our council is being proactive in this space," Kayla said.
"Having the option of putting any additional food waste into the orange bin means it will be processed into compost, instead of going to landfill."
The trial will run for 12 months, and then be evaluated and refined, with the aim to roll out the service municipal-wide in 2024.
By that stage, the proposed Barwon Water Regional Renewable Organics Network processing facility is scheduled to be operating at their Black Rock site in Connewarre. This site will also be able to assist with processing the large volume of food waste from Greater Geelong, along with the in-vessel composting units at City's facility in Anakie.
The food waste collection service will be an important part of the solution to enable Council to achieve the goal of diverting all household waste from landfill by 2030-31.
To help households save time, money and food, Barwon South West Waste and Resource Recovery Group have produced a series of free digital workshops sharing practical food waste reduction skills. Register today to take part.
And in late November, council will also be launching a Home Composting Scheme, offering highly discounted compost bins, worm farms and more. Details of this offer will be available on the council website soon.
Increasing the recovery of food waste is an important step towards helping drive a more circular economy, which keeps valuable materials in use and reduces landfill.
Overall, it is important to consider what goes in your red bin. The best way to reduce your household waste is by avoiding, reducing, and reusing. These are very powerful actions. Recycling is also important, but it is always better to avoid, reduce or reuse your items before recycling them.
"Reducing our consumption to avoid unnecessary waste is our first priority," Kayla says of her family's ethos.
"It is about reducing your own footprint – you want to do as much as you can in your own backyard".
"It is about making more sustainable choices where you can. Everything counts."
This can be as simple as reusing glass jars, choosing less packaged items, using reusable cloth nappies (even just some of the time), taking soft plastics back to Coles/Woolworths for recycling, along with using a compost bin or worm farm for food waste.
There are many benefits to reducing our dependency on sending our waste to landfill. It will help reduce carbon emissions; improve our environmental and public health; and will help minimise the cost of waste collection services.
KAYLA'S TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR WASTE
- Avoid single-use items (particularly plastics) where possible.
- Make weekly meal plans to avoid food waste, and freeze leftovers if you won't eat soon.
- Try some home food waste solutions – chickens, compost bin or worm farm. They are great for your garden and fun for kids too!
- Know the difference between 'Use by' and 'Best before'. 'Use by' dates must be followed. But items past 'best before' dates can be used safely as this is just a freshness guide.
- Take your own bags and reusable containers for bulk food, bread and take away foods
- Purchase loose fruit and vegetables from local farmers markets (we are so lucky to have some great options in our region!).
- Recycle right – only put clean, loose and accepted items in your recycling bin – no bags!
RECYCLING GUIDE
Use the City's recycling guide to find out how to best dispose of a wide range of items.
