Reforming household and food waste

  • GISA
  • Reforming household and food waste

Green Industries SA funds projects to stimulate innovation, efficiencies and improvements in local government waste management and recycling.

This is in response to the strategic imperative to support South Australia’s councils to implement systems which assist with the diversion of waste from landfill.

Funding assists councils to upgrade and standardise waste collection and recycling services to increase the kerbside diversion rate and reduce the amount of household waste sent to landfill. 

The single, largest remaining area for improvement in council kerbside systems is food waste, as it comprises 40% of the weight of household residual waste bins sent to landfill. 

Councils committed towards implementing systems which assist with the diversion of food waste from landfill receive support under the Kerbside Performance Plus (Food Organics) Incentives Program. Councils receive a subsidy for the cost of bench-top containers, compostable bags and production of householder education material. 

Improving the collection of food waste can lower waste management costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a valuable resource like compost.

Additionally, Green Industries SA funds measures to stimulate modernisation and innovation in the local government sector such as through smart bins, technology upgrades, auditing support and alternative delivery models. 

This can assist further development of the three-bin system to increase landfill diversion, decrease contamination levels and improve operational efficiencies and householder satisfaction. 

Weekly food waste trial

Holdfast Bay residents are the first in South Australia to take part in a weekly green-bin kerbside collection trial to help divert food waste from landfill. Up to 1000 households are expected to volunteer to have their green-lid FOGO bins – Food Organics Garden Organics - collected weekly, to make recycling food waste more convenient. Those households can also opt to have their red-lid landfill bins collected fortnightly during the 12-month trial. Currently, up to 40 per cent of waste placed in red-lid landfill bins is food waste and garden clippings, which could instead be placed in the green FOGO bins and turned into compost. The City of Holdfast Bay is funding the trial with a grant of $97,900 from Green Industries SA. 

Compostable bags in supermarkets

The City of Holdfast Bay with funding from Green Industries SA has successfully piloted the distribution of compostable bags through supermarkets as a more convenient way to make these available to householders.  Plastic bags were replaced with compostable bags in the fruit and vegetable sections of two local Foodland supermarkets. This allowed customers to purchase their fruit and vegetables in a compostable bag and then reuse the bag at home to dispose of their food waste into the green organics bin. Based on customer surveys and community feedback, the response to the pilot and compostable bags was overwhelmingly positive.  Importantly, the pilot led to a positive change in levels of food diversion from landfill based on bin audits. 

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Acknowled­gement of Country

Green Industries SA acknowledges and respects the Traditional Custodians whose ancestral lands we live and work upon and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. 

We acknowledge and respect their deep spiritual connection and the relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people have to Country.

We extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their nations in South Australia and across Australia.