Sending food waste back to earth

By DANIEL MILES

Moonee Valley City Council is putting the saying "one man’s trash is another man’s treasure" to the test in a food waste trial that aims to reduce the region’s reliance on landfill. 

Residents’ food scraps and garden materials will be sent back to earth via their green-lid bins, with a Food to Green trial set to process locals’ leftovers into high-quality compost and mulch, which will then be made available to residents free of charge.

Research  by Sustainability Victoria showed Victorian households send 400,000 tonnes of food waste to landfill each year.

Melbourne alone sends 3.6 million tonnes of food waste to landfill each year, a number that is predicted to rise by 63 per cent in the next 25 years unless something changes.

Moonee Ponds resident Alarni Morgan, 24, is ready to fight to change that reality. 

“We’ve been dumping waste into our oceans and the earth for a long time now. It’s getting to a point where we’re in crisis and the world still isn't where it should be,” Ms Morgan said.

“It’s a great initiative that will really positively affect the environment. More people need to look after the environment a little better and this may just be way to do it.”

When placed in landfill, organic material generates greenhouse gases including methane, which is considered to be 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

While Melbourne’s recycling rates have jumped from 57 to 73 per cent over the past 10 years, the amount of food waste sent to landfills remains of concern to the Melbourne Waste and Recovery Resource Group.

Unless Melbourne improves its recycling, by 2041 an additional one million tonnes of waste will go to landfill every year, and at least five million tonnes of extra waste will be produced every year, according to the group.

Trial results were being analysed late last month and, if successful, the Food to Green trial will be rolled out across Moonee Valley by late 2016.

“Victorian households throw out more than 2kg of food waste each week. By redirecting waste to green-lidded bins we can reduce landfill and benefit the environment,” Moonee Valley Mayor Andrea Surace said.

“We understand many residents will be eager to take part in this trial and we encourage them to consider starting their own household composting until the trial is rolled out.”

Residents can collect the compost and mulch that has been processed from green-lid bin collections at the Moonee Valley Transfer Station.

Daniel Miles' story was first published on his own blog