2017-03-07 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                    7 MARCH 2017


9                        TRIAL - ADDITION OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE WASTE TO GARDEN WASTE BINS
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                              Manager Waste and Environmental Health, Wayne Schafer
                                    Corporate Services Department

Index                               ECM/Subject/Waste Contract – Collections

Attachments                         1.    Green Waste Survey Report prepared by Rolfe Perry & Associates
                                          P/L dated 6 December 2016
                                          (32 page attachment provided separately to this report)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Manager Waste and Environmental Health to the Services &
Organisation Committee Meeting dated 7 March 2017 on the successful trial of adding fruit and
vegetable waste to Council’s garden waste bins and agree to allow fruit and vegetable waste to
be placed in garden waste bins from 1 September 2017 when Council introduces its new 3 bin
waste collection service into urban areas of the Shire.

REPORT
1.                       Purpose of this report

This report details the outcome of a trial undertaken by the Waste Management Section to
investigate the potential impacts of adding a limited range of fruit and vegetable waste to garden
waste bins which are collected fortnightly.

2.                       Background

Waste management section were seeking innovative ideas for inclusion in the next waste
management contract and decided to perform a trial to determine if a limited range of fruit and
vegetable waste could be added to the garden waste bin service without causing any
environmental problems.

This would maximise diversion of organic waste from landfill without increasing the costs of the
service, such as frequency of the fortnightly collection and the treatment of the waste.

3.                       Nature of the trial

•                        The trial took place from 21 October to 8 December 2016.
•                        Four urban residential type areas of about 250 households each were selected for the trial
                         from Sunrise Beach, Tewantin, Noosa Heads and Noosa Waters. The four survey areas
                         totalled 989 households that had a green waste bin.
•                        A street audit targeted about 30 households within each survey area - 170 households
                         were included in the green waste street audit. The audit comprised of collection and
                         weighing all presented green waste bins, sorting the green waste collected into relevant
                         categories and weighing each category - including weigh of fruit and vegetable waste and
                         contamination.
•                        Rolfe Perry and Associates Pty Ltd were engaged as consultants to implement and asses
                         the trial.



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