Fortnightly rubbish collection flagged in food waste reduction push

"Many councils have found that adopting a fortnightly garbage service with either a weekly or fortnightly FOGO (food organic and garden organic) service is highly effective in gaining community acceptance for FOGO," the report reads.

"Some councils introducing a universal weekly FOGO service and fortnightly garbage service have reduced landfilled garbage by 40-50 per cent by weight due to increased organics recovery and increased commingled recycling."

The agency recommended food and garden matter are collected in the same bin each week to be composted, while rubbish remains in a separate bin. The scheme is designed to encourage households to separate food matter so it does not end up in land fill.

This arrangement was also found to have the highest participation and diversion rates.

"Councils in the north-east region of Victoria have found this collection combination to reduce garbage by 30-50 per cent," the report found.

However, research into the social attitudes towards the idea also found fortnightly rubbish collection was not appealing to residents due to "concerns about odour and pests and waste disposal capacity being taken away from them".

Research completed in May last year about community attitudes found most people were concerned about the smell of food waste, while others were concerned about maggots and vermin, especially in summer. It found there was a "large concern amongst residents about losing the weekly general waste collection".

People should be encouraged to put all food waste into the organic bin - including meat, bones and dairy, the report said.

Tips to reduce smells and contamination include encouraging people to use bi-carbonate of soda to neutralise odours in caddies which are in the kitchen, line the big organics bins with cardboard to avoid organic waste sticking to the base, place smelly food scraps in the freezer until bin night, and layer food scraps in between garden organics in the FOGO bin.

Some councils in Victoria have already implemented a weekly rubbish collection and fortnightly organic waste collection, including Strathbogie council. Bayside City Council will introduce a fortnightly garbage collection mid next year.

Five councils in metropolitan Melbourne have operated food and organic matter services over the past year, including Nillumbik, Moonee Valley, Wyndham, Hume and Glen Eira. Two councils were conducting trials: Darebin and Yarra.

Glen Eira was the first in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs when it began this year to allow residents to dump food scraps in their green waste bins alongside lawn clippings, leaves and branches.

The report outlines the case for reducing the amount food and garden organics as a major priority across the country to manage landfill sites, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In August, Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg announced bin day would be transformed for hundreds of thousands of Melbourne households, who will be sending both food scraps and green waste to a new $65 million composting plant as early as next year.

The plant will divert more than 12,000 truck loads of organic waste from landfill and turn it into compost.

Simone is a breaking news reporter for The Age. Most recently she covered breaking news for The Australian in Melbourne.

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