Cleanaway’s new organics processing facility near Mildura will soon turn the region’s garden waste and food scraps into compost for local farms.
Up to 11,000 tonnes of food and garden organics (FOGO) collected through Mildura Rural City Council’s kerbside green bin service, will be processed at Cleanaway’s Thurla organics composting facility each year.
The $7.4 million Thurla facility was officially opened today.
Up until now, Cleanaway has been transporting all Mildura’s FOGO to a commercial Cleanaway composting contractor 300 kilometres outside the region.
Environment and Sustainability Portfolio Councillor Jason Modica acknowledged Cleanaway’s investment in the Mildura region and commitment to making a sustainable future possible.
“Our community has diverted 40,000 tonnes of organic material from landfill since the kerbside FOGO recycling service started in July 2020,” Cr Modica said.
“Landfilling is our single biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and it is an incredibly expensive practise, which is why we all need to keep sorting our waste and recycling as much as possible.”
Cleanaway empties around 26,000 green FOGO bins in the Mildura Rural City Council area every week.
Cleanaway’s Mildura Branch Manager, Paul Mulder said: “Cleanaway is excited to be able to contribute to Victoria’s ambition of reducing food waste sent to landfill through the transition to FOGO.
“Our Blueprint 2030 strategy is committed to building a local circular economy and organics is one way we are bringing this to life. At the same time, the organics strategy is playing an important role in reducing our carbon emissions by diverting food waste from landfill.
“The Thurla facility will play a critical role in supporting the Council and community’s transition to FOGO and Cleanaway are proud to be able to support Mildura with this transition.”
The collected organic material will be sorted, shredded and heated at the Thurla facility using controlled biological decomposition to produce a high-grade compost.
Construction of Cleanaway’s Thurla organics processing facility was assisted by the Australian Government’s Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund and the Victorian Government’s Circular Economy Organics Sector Transformation Fund.
