Residents of Sydney's Inner West will have a new food waste collection method! All homes in the area will be given a new bin for their kitchen bench to make disposing of food scraps easier and to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill. Let’s take a look!
Sydney’s New Recycling Service To Reduce Food Waste!
Homes in Sydney’s Inner West will have a new bin designated for recycling food scraps! The intention is that residents will scrape their food scraps into a small purple-lid bin for the kitchen counter, which they will then empty into a kerbside bin to be collected and processed by the council.
The goal of this organic waste recycling system is to decrease the volume of food waste going to landfill. According to FoodWise, Australians discard up to 20% of the food they purchase. That's four million tonnes, or roughly 140kg per person of food going to landfill each year! We love this bin idea and think that this food waste recycling service is a smart solution to tackle this problem!
Image: Inner West Council
Sydney’s New Recycling Service To Reduce Food Waste!
Inner West councillor Mat Howard, who raised the idea, said enthusiasm from residents for food recycling was inspiring and they needed to give all residents the tools to get involved.
“We want to lead the nation in eliminating organic waste…” said councillor Darcy Byrne. Currently, around 22,600 units and apartments in the area already recycle food waste, but it will now be expanded to all homes!
This new bin system has already proven to be successful — in November, the current program saved more than 713 tonnes of food waste from going to landfill. To put that into perspective, it’s prevented the equivalent emissions of removing 433 cars from roads! How great is that?!
Image: Jessica Rozema
The Benefits Of Recycling Food Waste For The Environment
“Food scraps make up around 40 percent of the average household bin in Australia and when those food scraps go to landfill they produce toxins, leachate, greenhouse gases,” said councillor Mat Howard. “…Recycling food scraps on the other hand generates green energy that is fed back to the grid or turns scraps into compost.”
When rotting food is sent to landfill it produces a greenhouse gas called methane. However, when food waste is recycled, microbes convert that organic matter into nutrient-rich soil instead of putting carbon into the atmosphere!
Recycling food scraps also encourages residents to be more mindful of over-consumption. We hope to see this service roll out across more of Sydney!
What do you think of these new household bins for food waste collection? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! We think this approach is a fantastic way to make disposing of food scraps easier and to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill.
If you love hearing about sustainable initiatives happening all around Australia, check out our Eco News category for more stories and check out the blogs below!
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