A Ferntree Gully family of seven is making small changes to reduce waste as Council implements a weekly food and garden service turning food and garden waste into compost.
Mother of five Kylie Puamau says her family tries to be mindful to restrict the amount of waste produced.
“We have a house of seven people so that’s two adults and five kids,” she says. “Two of those kids are in nappies and the rest are 10 years and under so we’re really mindful of the rubbish accumulation of a house that large.”
The food and garden bin, with most of the stinky stuff, will be picked up weekly and the rubbish bin will be picked up fortnightly.
“Prior to the rubbish changes, we as a family probably wouldn’t have thought much about our wastage,” Kylie says. “The best thing to arise from the bin changes is that it starts the conversations in our family that we otherwise wouldn’t have had. So, even though we are at the beginning of minimising family wastage, the most important part is that it’s a journey begun.
“We try and minimise any wastage coming from outside the house when shopping and replace plastic bags with reusable bags or boxes. We try and teach the kids to use recyclables, for example, using plastic containers for lunchboxes as opposed to cling wraps. Just little things – we don’t do anything super special.”
Currently, 43% of Knox’s rubbish that goes to landfill is food. Some councils have diverted up to 76% of waste from landfill by switching to a weekly food and garden bin and fortnightly rubbish bin collection.
“I reckon we would be getting rid of maybe half a kitchen caddy a day of food scraps like peelings and apple cores or parts of the fruit and veg you’re not eating,” Kylie says. “We shop often for the foods that we need and then, whatever we’re cooking, if there’s leftovers it will last two days and then it will be consumed.
“So, we actually are not tipping out a high volume of leftover foods at all really, and I think the credit goes to our husband – because he’s the cook in our family – understanding how much is enough for our family. If we have a busy day, he’ll cook a little bit over so that there’s food for tomorrow.”
Kylie says takeaway food and packaging are the biggest causes of her household’s waste.
“Let’s say, during a festive season when you’ve got cousins and everyone over and no-one’s cooking, the plastics and all those kind of scraps are really high,” she says. “Any time you’re ordering food, just the amount of wrapping that comes with that is where I find we’re getting the most household wastage.
“For the majority of the year, we try to make sure we cook at home. That’s probably one of the main ways that we’re able to minimise the wastage. The new weekly bin service could actually work for a family like ours where, if we can get rid of the wastage by cooking every week, it actually decreases our rubbish volume.”
For more information visit knox.vic.gov.au/FoodAndGarden
