Fast facts
- The rule for determining if something can go into the green organics bin is ‘if it grows, it goes’. This means that if the item or material is something that lives or grows, or comes from something that lives or grows, it should go into the green organics bin.
- For the average Australian household, $1036 worth of food is thrown away each year. That’s about 180 kilograms of food, per person.
- Around 40% of what is placed in general waste bins is food.
- When food scraps and other organic material are placed into the green organics bin, they are turned into nutrient-rich compost, which can be put onto the garden to help plants grow.
- Placing food scraps into the green organics bin reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill, saving money, energy and space in landfills.
- In landfill, food scraps break down and produce the equivalent of 15.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, as well as a greenhouse gas called methane.
- Around 90% of greenhouse gas emissions from landfills come from decomposing organics, like food scraps.
- Food scraps in landfill is a waste of the energy used to produce, process, store, refrigerate and transport those foods.
- The ‘compostable’ bags placed in your kitchen caddy are made from corn starch, which will compost just like food scraps.
- Commercial composting facilities (the places that process green organics and food scraps) are able to reach composting temperatures close to 70°C! This means that they can compost things like meat and bones. Home compost bins typically reach around 40°C.
References
www.recycleright.sa.gov.au
www.foodwise.com.au
www.abc.net.au
