The ACT Government will build a large-scale composting facility at Hume to deal with the 42,000 tonnes of food and garden waste that will be composted as part of the citywide rollout of the Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin collection service, Chris Steel, ACT Minister for City Services, announced today.
“This is an important scheme to support a circular economy, and re-use organic matter, a valuable product, as many times as possible, and turn it into compost so that it can be used in the agriculture, the viticulture, and the gardens of our region,” Mr Steel said.
Turning food and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost will reduce waste emissions by up to 30 per cent, he said. Organic material in landfill turns into methane, a greenhouse gas up to 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The facility will be built at the Hume Resource Recovery Estate, close to the government’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
The government’s feasibility study stated that the facility would need a capacity of 42,000 tonnes per annum of organic material. The new facility will cater for 50,000 tonnes p.a., and can be expanded to 70,000 tonnes p.a. as Canberra grows.
The facility will be built after a procurement process this year.
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The FOGO waste collection service will be rolled out across Canberra next year, and is expected to lower the city’s waste emissions by up to 30 per cent. Households can put food scraps (including meat and bones) into a kitchen caddy and bin liners (provided for free). The food scraps can then be emptied into their lime-green lidded FOGO bin, along with garden waste.
The scheme reduces the amount of organic waste in a garbage bin that goes to landfill by adding it to the garden waste (green bin). The green bin is collected weekly, rather than fortnightly, and the garbage bin is collected fortnightly.
“It causes people to rethink what they’re putting in their garbage bin, and whether that material can in fact be recycled in the yellow bin,” Mr Steel said.
The pilot began in Belconnen last year, trialled in the Belconnen Town Centre, Bruce, Cook, and Macquarie. Despite some early teething problems – some residents complained the fortnightly garbage collection was not enough – Mr Steel said households had adapted well to the pilot. “There’s been a lot of support for it.”
So far, the scheme has collected more than 480 tonnes of rubbish – “Enough to comfortably cover the entire playing surface of GIO stadium,” he said. Contamination levels were low: only 0.1 per cent.
“Which is fantastic,” Mr Steel said. “That means that material can be composted and will be really valued by those that purchase those products.”
A larger bin or a second bin can be bought for a small fee from ACT No Waste, he said.
The feasibility study recommended the government build an in-vessel composting facility, which controls the aeration and temperature – “A really efficient process that takes up less room, but also helps us to manage the odour risk that can come from composting food waste, in particular.”
Later this year, the government will release a draft circular economy strategy for public consultation. Besides food waste, what else could be reused as many times as possible: metal, plastics, or other materials?
“This is a priority because of the impact on the climate from methane emissions from landfill that we can avoid through composting this material,” Mr Steel said.
