Knox bin audit finds 43% food scraps
Food scraps make up 43% of what’s in our rubbish bins and some residents have asked how we know this.
As part of our most recent annual kerbside audit, accredited contractor EnviroCom collected 125 rubbish bins across Knox that were randomly selected on each day of collection over a week. Bin contents were sorted by experienced auditing personnel according to standard guidelines.
Forty-three per cent of materials by weight were found to be food scraps, which was consistent with previous years’ findings of 40-45% of food scraps found in rubbish bins since the audits started in 2015. For the purpose of the audits, food is defined as waste accepted in food and garden bins by our organics processor, Bio Gro (Find out what food can go in the food and garden bin).
From April 2023, residents will be able to add food scraps to their green bin. From July 2023, the food and garden bin will be picked up weekly and the general rubbish bin will be picked up fortnightly.
Council is investigating what special arrangements will be available to residents of households that produce more waste such as larger households, households with children in nappies and people requiring incontinence aids or with medical needs that produce more waste. We would like to hear from you about any questions or concerns you have so that we can understand and plan how best to support you.
Please give us your feedback online, come along to a drop-in session or join a focus group to share your feedback.
Households will receive a kitchen caddy for collecting scraps, a year’s supply of compostable liners, a garden bin (if you don’t already have one) and information to help you use the service. The new bins will be delivered from March-June 2023 to all single unit dwellings including houses and town houses. The rollout to units and apartments is planned to occur by-November 2023 to prepare for any required sharing arrangements.
When we roll out the new service we will change the bin lids on all existing garden bins (recycling the old red lids). This will have important information about what can and can’t go in the bin and will conform to the standard colour of bright green for food and garden bin services Australia wide. The garbage and recycling bins lids will be changed to comply with the Victorian Government requirements in 2024.
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