$4 million in the ACT Budget to start local food organic and garden organic (FOGO) waste recycling is a win for all Canberrans who care about ending waste, growing a circular economy and taking real climate action.
“We could not be happier that the ACT Government is finally investing in keeping food waste out of landfill. This has been ACT Greens policy for well over a decade and I’m delighted we’re moving ahead with it,” said Jo Clay MLA, ACT Greens spokesperson on Circular Economy and representative of Ginninderra, where the FOGO trial will begin.
“Since moving from the recycling industry myself to become an MLA, I’ve been working with local organic processors and the Minister to ensure we get a good system in place. With the low contamination rates we’ve seen in Canberra’s garden waste bins, I’m confident our community will be able to do this well too.”
The ACT Greens have been calling for specific actions on food waste in our Parliamentary Agreements with Labor as far back as 2008. In 2012, then-waste spokesperson Caroline Le Couter said, “Household organic waste is the fundamental challenge for waste management in the ACT.”
“For too long, food waste in our city has been left rotting in landfill, when it could better be turned into organic material to help us grow food, live more sustainably, and cut the Territory’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Ms Clay said.
“More than a third of waste in Canberra’s household bins is made up of discarded food. Reducing food waste in the first place, then processing what’s left to enrich our soils will keep over 40,000 tonnes of waste out of landfill,” Ms Clay said.
“When food and other organics like garden waste break down in landfill, they release methane – a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon.
“Methane from landfill accounts for almost 7 per cent of the ACT’s total emissions, so recycling organic waste is a relatively easy way we can make a dent in our next emissions reduction target of 50-60% by 2025.”
The ACT Government’s food waste collection service will be trialled in the Belconnen suburbs of Jamison and Cook, as well as the Belconnen Town Centre. Further funding in the 2021-22 ACT Budget will be used to progress facilities for processing food and organic waste into high-quality compost.
“There is a lot more the ACT can do to become a circular economy. We will keep working in the Legislative Assembly and as a party of government to create a healthy, waste-free future for Canberrans,” Ms Clay said.
The ACT Greens policy on waste reduction is at https://greens.org.au/act/circular-economy .
