Brisbane residents have saved 20,000 litres of food scraps from ending up in landfill, through Brisbane City Council’s Community Composting Hubs.
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said Council’s 14 public composting hubs were helping contribute to a clean, green and sustainable Brisbane, by recycling food waste to produce compost for community gardens.
“Food waste is the largest contributor to avoidable rubbish in Brisbane’s landfill and represents one-third of the contents in an average household rubbish bin,” Cr Quirk said.
“Council is committed to reducing the amount of recyclable going to landfill, which contributes to greenhouse gases, and has introduced a series of community composting hubs across the city to provide an easy way for residents to live more sustainably.
“Community Composting Hubs are located at existing community garden sites, so people who are not already composting their food waste at home are still able to avoid food being sent to landfill.
“Since the first of the hubs opened in October 2016, more than 20,000 litres of food scraps have been saved from landfill and has been converted into organic fertiliser.”
Cr Quirk said the community composting hubs were just one part of Council’s Love Food, Hate Waste campaign, which aimed to inspire residents to be more sustainable by reducing their food waste.
“Council’s Love Food and Hate Waste initiative is helping residents minimise food waste with tips and tricks to reuse, prep and store food, which in turn will reduce the food going to landfill,” he said.
“Every year, Brisbane residents throw away 97,000 tonnes of food – that’s one in five shopping bags of food wasted, costing the average household up to $3,800 per year.
“Food waste contributes to around 140,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year and reducing the 97,000 tonnes of food going to landfill will have an enormous impact on Brisbane’s sustainability.”
Cr Quirk said that with International Composting Awareness Week being celebrated between 6-12 May, there was no better time to develop a green thumb.
“Council is offering free workshops across the suburbs, to give residents the chance learn how to compost at home, or join one of our community composting hub sites,” he said.
“Residents who live or work near to a community composting hub are encouraged to register on Council’s website and bring their fruit and vegetable scraps to the hub for composting.”
For more information about how residents can be involved with Council’s Love Food and Hate Waste initiative, visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au or call Council on (07) 3403 8888.