Vines thriving thanks to compost from organic waste

Our CEO Rob Millard met the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio at Bindi Wines in Gisborne this morning. Joined by Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas MP and Bindi Wines owner Michael Dhillon, they saw first hand how vines are thriving thanks to compost made from Melbourne’s organic waste.

Food and garden waste from municipal collections is being turned into compost and used to improve agriculture, instead of going into Melbourne’s landfills.

The visit follows the Minister's announcement last month regarding the expansion of Melbourne's organic processing network which now includes collective contracts involving 24 metropolitan councils.

The network comprises three major contracts that service council clusters in the north and west, south east and east of Melbourne. It has the potential capacity to divert over 520,000 tonnes a year of food and garden waste from landfill, from both household and commercial/industrial sources. This capacity exceeds the target set out for organics recovery in the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan.

Every year Bindi Wines uses around 200 tonnes of compost. It takes approximately 300 tonnes of green waste to produce this amount, which is around the same amount of green waste collected from 1,000 households in a year.

The Back to Earth initiatives in your community

It’s been a busy start to the year for Back to Earth. We recently launched our new and improved website that’s been upgraded to load quicker on the newest devices and to include a new 'Back to Earth Community' tab. This currently includes a map showcasing some of the many end users of compost produced through our joint contracts. We invite councils to let us know of any additions – including where your council might have been using the compost in your open spaces.

Don't forget that we have set aside some of our current funding to support local events promoting Back to Earth and its messages associated with the promotion of green waste bin recycling. This year we have supported events in Casey and Glen Eira with help available for more. If you are interested in running a Back to Earth compost seedling planting event or other activity please us know. We also have flyers (which can be customised for your council) and Back to Earth seed packets which can be used as prizes and incentives for competitions and other activities.

As an exciting heads up we are also developing a new Back to Earth campaign called Farmers Stories. It’s still in development but we are looking forward to working with both council waste and communications teams to launch it in the community towards the middle of year.

Drive Thru Recycling Day video

Last month the City of Greater Dandenong ran a fantastic new Pop-up Drive Thru Recycling Day initiative to give their residents the opportunity to drop off unwanted household goods.

This free service was held in addition to the council's annual hard waste collection – and was a big hit with residents.

The video produced on the day tells you more about the initiative and has some great interviews with their residents….and with our CEO, Rob Millard.

Check out the video here.

City of Monash trials new approach to dumped rubbish

The City of Monash started a trial this month for dealing with dumped rubbish. The trial hopes to change residents’ behaviour and educate them about the impact and cost to the community of dumped rubbish.

Under the six month trial, the council will tape the dumped rubbish and write to all properties near where the rubbish was dumped, reminding people that it is illegal to dump rubbish and asking for information about who may have left the rubbish there.

Council will give the person who dumped the rubbish five days to remove it. If they don’t, they face receiving a $500 fine.

Mayor Rebecca Paterson said if just 50% of the dumped rubbish in Monash is removed by the person who dumped it within the five days, it’s estimated they could save about $30,000 per year in disposal and pick up costs.

We look forward to hearing about the outcomes of this new approach later in the year. Good luck!

Happy Easter from MWRRG

Finally, all of the staff at MWRRG wish you a safe and happy Easter break.

We hope you have a wonderful, relaxing long weekend!