MOUNT Gambier City Council will receive more than $135,000 in State Government funding to help reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfill and subsidise waste transport.
Hundreds of households will benefit from a $32,954 subsidy to provide bench-top containers and compostable bags to support the disposal of food scraps to green waste, as well as the production of educational material.
In addition, City Council is one of the state’s biggest winners in the Regional Transport Subsidies Program, receiving $104,000 to offset extra costs associated with processing and transporting collected recyclables.
Council environmental sustainability officer Aaron Izzard said the waste grants were a significant coup.
“They are both significant grants in terms of helping with recycling and reducing waste to landfill,” he said.
“Without these grants the council would have had to take more of a hit, so I guess this is good news for ratepayers.”
The Regional Transport Subsidies Program grant will provide the biggest relief for ratepayers, with the financial burden of recycling transportation eased.
“When China stopped taking as much recycling, the price went up across the whole country and the world, so the State Government is trying to help regional councils continue to collect and transport recyclables,” he said.
“Turning recyclables does not really happen much in regional areas, it happens in the cities, so this money will help get the material from regional areas to the cities.”
Mr Izzard said the grant to help reduce food waste sent to landfill was timely, given the extensive work by council to find ways for residents to improve behaviour in that area.
“We have done audits of the bins and 36pc of Mount Gambier’s rubbish bin is food waste, so that’s all going to landfill where it’s a waste of resources,” he said.
“We are really trying to encourage residents not to put this waste into the rubbish bins and we have been going in this direction for a while and this funding will hopefully help push that further.”
A report will be tabled at tonight’s full council meeting recommending members suspend green waste tag fees and expand the organic service.
“Food waste is something we have been trying to chip away at for a while in this city,” he said.
“Education across waste in general is something we are focused on because we are aware people do not really think about it until they go to put something in the bin, that’s if they even think about it then.”
Environment and Water Minister David Speirs said improved waste management was not only good for the environment, but it contributed to South Australia’s economic growth.
“The single, largest remaining area for improvement in council kerbside systems is food waste which makes up to 40pc of the weight of household residual waste bins sent to landfill,” Mr Speirs said.
“By supporting councils to improve their collection of food waste we can lower waste management costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a valuable resource like compost.”
Mr Izzard said there were significant savings to be made if everyone did the right thing.
“It is very expensive to build and run a landfill and there is a lot of waste going there that should not be,” he said.
