Overcoming Barriers to Effective Kerbside Garden and Food Organics Recovery

Transcription

1 Overcoming Barriers to Effective Kerbside Garden and Food Organics Recovery Thursday 8 September 2016 Wendy Buck Moira Shire Councillor and Chair of Goulburn Valley Waste and Resource Recovery Group

2 Todays presentation:! Regional introduction of (FOGO) in the Goulburn Valley! Who are we! What did we do and Why did we do it! Barriers! How we overcame the barriers! When it happened! Key learnings! Case study Moira Shire Council

3 Who are we: Campaspe Shire Mitchell Shire Murrindindi Shire Greater Shepparton City Moira Shire Strathbogie Shire

4 What did we do and why did we do it?! Full organic service:! Food Scraps & leftovers incl. meat and bones! All garden waste pruning's, lawn clippings and weeds! Shredded paper! Animal droppings! Kitchen caddie 8Lt & Compostable bags (150 per household p.a)! Paid through rates collections! Delivered through contractors collection and disposal! ORGANICS in household garbage! Made up 41% of household garbage;! In landfill generates methane a potent greenhouse gas! In landfill is extremely expensive and increases risks due to generation of leachate

5 Barriers real and perceived! Lack of EPA approved processing options and competition! Lack of examples of successful FOGO collections! Approval delays, uncertainty in regulatory environment for processors! Lack of community understanding of the need for the service and willingness to pay! Varying degrees of political will across councils! Managing contamination is an ongoing concern! Shared responsibility between households, contractors and councils not well practiced! Resources of Councils to prepare and implement appropriately! Fully understanding the costs and risk implications for the do nothing case.

6 How we overcame the barriers: Partnerships, Education and Innovation! PARTNERSHIPS! SV funding! Councils contractors collection and processing! EDUCATION! Dr Karl! Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group! Back to Earth

7 ! INNOVATION! Common bin and purple bags- genius!! Conventional wisdom promoted a staged approach, but each of Strathbogie, Moira and Benalla have successfully gone from no third bin service to full FOGO in one step! Custom designed upgrades to compost facility! Whole of council approach - many ambassadors! Extensive trials were undertaken

8 When it happened?! 2005 / 2006 Greater Shepparton City Council introduces a kerbside green waste service to approximately 15,000 households! 2006 Western Composting Technology (WCT), a controlled environment composting facility establishes near Shepparton! Trial FOGO collections in Moira, Strathbogie, Mitchell and Campaspe! 2013 Attitudinal, biosecurity, market development research undertaken! 2014 WCT plant upgrade (decontamination and product refinement)! 2014 (Dec) Moira Shire commence a full garden and food organics service.! 2015 (July) Strathbogie Shire Council (together with Benalla Rural City Council) commence a full garden and food organics service.! 2015 (Oct) Extension of the existing GSCC green waste service to an additional 5700 services, coupled with the introduction of food waste to all services.! 2016 WCT plant upgrade (increased footprint for maturation phase)! 2016 Mitchell Shire undertaking assessment options for service introduction Households Kerbisde Organics Collection

9 Key learnings The GV experience demonstrates successful organics recovery with low contamination rates can be achieved and that rural municipalities can do it very well. Careful planning and a comprehensive education and engagement program to win community support are essential Introducing FOGO can have broader benefits. For example Strathbogie introduced a weekly FOGO collection and reduced their residual waste collection to fortnightly. Their waste to landfilled has reduced by 47%. There are reputational benefits for better performing municipalities. Having a strong base of municipalities offering the service in the wider region seems to be providing some momentum. This should assist Campaspe, Mitchell and Murrindindi and others in their future consideration of service introduction. Kg/hh/yr Organics Yield Per Service

10 Case Study - Moira Shire Council! 240Lt lime green lid bin, 150 compostable bags and an 8lt caddie delivered to each household! Compulsory, fortnight collection (alt to recycle)! 4 main towns ~ 7,800 services! Information Brochure + Kerbside Waste Service Guide! $97.20 p.a per household! Since December 2014 over 4000t of material has been diverted from landfill at a contamination rate of 0.43%! Winner of the 2015 Premiers Sustainability Award Government Category

11 Moira s Extensive Community engagement! Councillor, media, staff, community waste site tours with Contractors! TV Ads produced featuring Dr Karl! Internal publications e.g. with rates notice information brochure! phone and website inquiries! Over 8 hours media! 35 newspaper articles! Attendance at 3 Agricultural shows! Presented at 20 community meetings people! CALD community involvement

12 Keeping on track! Reinforce the message! Absolute commitment of contractors! Mulch in public gardens! Signage in public gardens! Promotional competitions - pending! $200 cash give away! Win a Garden makeover! Smart phone app! WasteInfo! Quality Control! Enforcement! Applying local laws

13 Questions