Council Partnerships

KESAB supports and works closely with many Councils and Regional Subsidiaries in South Australia including East Waste and Northern Area Waste Management Authority to educate residents on the importance of waste management and recycling within their communities. A variety of programs, developed for Council education sites, businesses and the general community are delivered by KESAB’s experienced and skilled education staff.

This year has seen increased importance in engaging communities to improve waste separation and food and organics collection which contributes up to 40% of household waste to landfill.

‘Take the Pledge’ Program Port Pirie and Unley

Port Pirie participant 'Take the Pledge'
Port Pirie participant 'Take the Pledge'

Port Pirie Take the Pledge boys in front of kerbside bin
Port Pirie Take the Pledge boys in front of kerbside bin

KESAB continues to work with the City of Unley and Port Pirie Regional Council on their ‘Take the Pledge’ programs with aims to educate residents to divert food scraps and recyclable materials from the landfill bin and to reduce contamination levels in the recycling and organics bins.

Participating households are provided with a program sticker to place on their kerbside bin/s, which publicly demonstrates their commitment to send less to landfill, and encourages others to seek more information and participate in the program.

Our team of door steppers provided face to face education with Unley residents about the correct use of their bins and the benefits of improved waste management. The City of Unley now in its 3rd year running has over 1,500 registered households. An audit of participating households in 2017 showed the amount of food being diverted to the green organics bin instead of the waste bin had almost doubled, when compared to the council wide 2015 audit results. An average of 4kg of food scraps were found in the organics bins of people participating in the program.

Port Pirie Pledge registrations have more than doubled since the program’s first year, with over 170 residents taking the pledge to send less to landfill. Nineteen households were identified to be correctly using their bins over the 10-week competition period.

Port Pirie residents had an opportunity to speak with KESAB Waste Education Officers at the Crystal Brook Show and Smelters Picnic about their waste and recycling, and to learn more about the Take the Pledge program. KESAB employees also staffed a display at the Port Pirie Library that included the presence of a Veolia waste collection truck for residents to have a closer look at and ask questions about technology and operations. Residents were also offered a free tour of the Port Pirie Resource Recovery Centre to see how their waste is processed.

Councils offer prizes to residents found to be honouring their commitment, determined through random visual bin inspections. Two competition rounds, totalling 20 days of inspections, have been conducted over the last 12 months in Unley. A total of 76 prizes were awarded for correct usage across two rounds: 43 in the first round and 33 in the second round. In both council areas, these results are a great indication of the program’s effectiveness in diverting food to organics, increasing recycling while reducing contamination, and reducing landfill bin materials.

Council Presentations and Events

KESAB held 5 community presentations this past year to explain to residents what happens to materials after they have been collected from the kerbside, discuss tricky items and common contaminants. Presentations were held for AVEO retirement villages, Probus Clubs, local environment groups and general community members.

Staffed displays and a presence at community events provide great opportunities for residents to ask questions, and get tips about how they can improve their recycling at home. KESAB held displays on behalf of Burnside Council at the Glenunga Hub World Environment Day fair as well as 3 outdoor movie nights; City of Tea Tree Gully at the ‘Touch-a-Truck’ event; Mitcham Council at the Library and Port Pirie Council at the Smelters Picnic, Crystal Brook Show and Port Pirie Library as part of the Port Pirie Take the Pledge program.

KESAB was again pleased to be a part of the Port Adelaide Enfield Twilight Christmas Parade, where Freddy Food Scraps and his team of food items walked the parade route, handing out information encouraging residents to place food scraps into their green bin.

Waste Audits and Assessments

Audits are conducted to identify levels of contamination in recycling and organics streams and what can be diverted from landfill. The KESAB trained audit team work with local councils and businesses to undertake waste audits or assessments to provide them with base line data. In the past 12 months KESAB has:

  • conducted a Council kerbside bin audit for City of Unley of household waste, recycling and organics streams (100 bins each)
  • audited waste and recycling kerbside bins (50 bins each) for Unley Take the Pledge program
  • audited 100 waste and 100 recycling bins for Port Lincoln City Council
  • managed and audited waste at the World Environment Fair 2018
  • conducted a kerbside bin audit for the Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority, including 100 waste, 100 recycling, 80 organics bins as well as 50 waste, 50 recycling and 25 organics bins on Kangaroo Island
  • audited 30 businesses, 20 waste litter bins and 20 recycle litter bins across Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority including Kangaroo Island.

Schools

One on One School Support

KESAB sees the benefit in working closely (one on one) with schools, providing them with a complete package to support them with minimising waste to landfill. This also provides Council with valuable data to report on.

The City of Port Adelaide Enfield and KESAB teamed up to deliver the first round of focused one on one support with 5 sites. Sites were selected based on involvement with sustainability education and sustainable practices at their site. Each site received a support package including excursions to waste and recycling facilities, incursions, a waste audit and/or assessment, education for students and staff as well as follow-up support to ensure the school had the ability to continue to work towards its sustainable goals.

Sites were very enthusiastic to become involved in the program and use it as a leverage to become a more sustainable site. KESAB will continue to work with these sites in the future to support and encourage long term change.

School Incursions

Port Pirie Public Library display
Port Pirie Public Library display

KESAB has enjoyed seeing an increased popularity of our incursions over the past 12 months, with the delivery of almost 200 to various education sites, enabling almost 4,261 students (plus their teachers) to learn about waste management and the importance of looking after our natural resources. Whether a recycle relay where students learn about what belongs in each bin, a papermaking session where they create their own recycled product, or a composting or worm farm education session to learn about managing food waste in the home or school environment, there is always a lot for the students to discover and share with their families. KESAB provides this education in an interactive and fun way.

KESAB has conducted 14 bin systems assessments and multiple audits at schools this year, providing feedback on existing systems and suggestions on how they could improve current collections to increase diversion of materials from landfill. Presentations to staff following these assessments/audits have allowed the findings to be shared, examples from other sites to be given, and possible options discussed further.

Community Tours & Other Activities

Beyond the Kerb Tours

KESAB delivered 15 ‘Beyond the Kerb’ Waste and Recycling Tours allowing 285 residents from 7 Councils to see how waste and recycling is processed. Sites visited included Jeffries, VISY, Adelaide Resource Recovery, E-Cycle SA, Cleanaway and Integrated Waste Services. Tours provide residents with an opportunity to ask KESAB staff and experts at each waste and recycling facility questions about their waste.

Gardening Workshops

Bent Pine Garden workshop
Bent Pine Garden workshop

KESAB coordinated 4 free community gardening workshops this year. Two of these were held in the Port Adelaide Enfield Council, 1 in the City of Mitcham, and 1 in the City of Unley. The events were comprised of workshops, with topics including a selection of composting, worm farms, seasonal pruning and wicking beds. Kitchen caddies and appropriate organic waste disposal were discussed at each workshop.

KESAB Education Centre at the Wingfield Waste and Recycling Centre

The past year has seen an increase in visits to KESAB’s Education Centre, housed within the Wingfield Waste and Recycling Centre. Over the 12 month period, 128 classes, totalling approximately 3,053 students, plus accompanying teachers and parents/helpers have visited.

The excursion provides a chance for attendees to visit sites that manage household waste and organic materials and learn about the importance of reducing waste to landfill and the benefits of composting food and garden materials.

The group also learns about the management of construction and demolition materials, and are always fascinated to find out just how much can be recycled!

The excursion also involves an hour of activities in the Education Centre, where students work in small groups to complete 6 activities. Students further their learning about what items make good compost and mulch, disposal options for common (and not so common) household items, the structure of a landfill, uses of recycled demolition materials, and also get to see how kerbside recyclables are sorted and the problems caused by placing incorrect items in the recycling bin.

Statewide Recycling Education Centre

Statewide Recycling Centre education session
Statewide Recycling Centre education session

Statewide Education Centre visuals have been upgraded!

Utilising the skills of a local award winning animation business, this fun and engaging video clip explains how cans and bottles are processed and how this benefits South Australians and the environment.

Since the re-opening of the centre in August 2017, over 800 students, teachers and helpers have visited the centre to see and learn more about how drink containers are recycled in SA. KESAB and the Statewide Recycling Centre look forward to having an official launch in the near future, and to encourage more schools to explore the Statewide Recycling Education Centre facility.