Let's Get Composting Coffs Coast
Nambucca Valley, Bellingen Shire and Coffs Harbour City Councils have teamed up to deliver a regional campaign to help educate residents about sustainable ways to dispose of food scraps and garden waste. The ‘Let’s Get Composting Coffs Coast’ campaign will run across the three Local Government Areas for the next year.
The Councils and MidWaste secured funding from the NSW Environment Protection Authority to develop the campaign to encourage residents to put their food scraps and garden waste in their green bins or compost at home in an effort to keep this valuable resource out of landfill.
As part of the Let’s Get Composting Coffs Coast program, 10,000 kitchen caddies will be available across the region for free for residents that receive a kerbside bin collection service from 1 July 2021, making it even easier to collect food scraps for disposal in the green wheelie bin.
A survey of Coffs Coast residents found most people know food scraps and garden waste should be placed in the green bin to be composted by Council, and around half are already doing the right thing.
However, an audit of kerbside wheelie bins across the region found up to 18 percent of the contents of red-lidded rubbish bins was food scraps and garden waste that should be placed in green bins, indicating a significant opportunity to improve resource recovery rates locally.
Nambucca Valley Council Mayor, Councillor Rhonda Hoban OAM, said disposing of all food scraps and garden waste in the green bin or composting at home is one of the easiest things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint, making a positive impact on the planet.
“When food and garden waste breaks down in landfill, it produces greenhouse gasses and liquids that are harmful to the environment and costly to manage. Putting it into the red bin is a real waste,” she said.
“We need to shift our thinking and see food scraps and garden waste as a valuable resource, to be transformed into nutrient-rich compost used to improve local gardens, parks and farms instead of seeing it as a waste product.
“You can put all food scraps in the green bin, even onions, garlic, citrus peels, meat, bones and soiled paper such as serviettes, and they will be collected every week, reducing smells and pests around your home.”
Nambucca Valley residents, who are located on the weekly domestic waste service collection route, are encouraged to collect a free kitchen caddy (limited numbers available) from July 1 from Council’s Administration Centre, 44 Princess Street, Macksville. Further information can be obtained at
www.letsgetcomposting.org.au
The program website provides information about what can and can’t go in the green bin, a behind-the-scenes look at the Biomass Solutions composting process, tips for keeping your kitchen caddy and green bin free from pests and smells, and ways to avoid food waste in the first place. This project is a NSW Environment Protection Authority initiative funded from the waste levy.
Ends
ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES TO: Mayor Rhonda Hoban OAM 0408 661 412
MICHAEL COULTER
GENERAL MANAGER
DATE 27 May 2021
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