Turning waste into an asset

8 March 2022

Food waste will be saved from landfill thanks to a 6 month trial to help local businesses turn more of their food scraps into valuable compost.

As a result of findings from bin audits undertaken last year, which showed a high rate of food waste contamination in general waste destined for landfill, Mount Barker District Council established a food waste trial for participating businesses along Gawler Street, Mount Barker to help address the issue.

Eleven local businesses have put their hands up to participate in the program since it started on 26 October 2021.

“Recycling food waste is a powerful way to reduce waste to landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve our reuse of products. I’m very proud of everyone involved and believe it has been a great success,” Mayor Ann Ferguson said.

“Over two tonnes of food waste has already been diverted from landfill thanks to the trial.

“What this trial has done is turn waste destined for landfill into a usable product, it is now getting made into valuable compost to be used by farmers and in gardens big and small”.

Positive outcomes indicate each bin is being used at a very high capacity with an average bin fill rate of 90%. Other data suggests a healthy participation rate with businesses putting their food waste bins out 75% of the time with very low visible contamination.

“There are real environmental and financial benefits to reducing waste to landfill and this trial is helping us reach a circular economy approach to waste management,” Dan Newson, Council’s Team Leader Technical Services, Maintenance and Operations said.

“We’ve received positive feedback from local businesses and will be organising a final street walk audit and follow-up survey at the end of the trial. From there we will provide a report to council with outcomes and recommendations from the trial”.