Local News: The Inner West’s New Plan To Tackle Food Waste

Have you ever looked in the rubbish bins and seen the astonishing amount of food waste inside?

Food waste is a huge problem in Australia. Reducing food waste could save the average family up to 3,800 dollars per year. That’s a lot of money! Research by the “fight food waste cooperative research centre” has identified that nearly 300 kilograms of food is wasted in Australia per person.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on an interview with Inner West Deputy Mayor, Phillipa Scott, to ask a few questions about different problems in Australia. I asked about food waste.

“When we did an audit of our garbage bins we were really surprised to see exactly how much of it was food waste. We know that when food waste goes into landfill it contributes to emissions that go into the air and pollute the atmosphere,” she said. 

If your family lives in an apartment, you can already do food waste recycling through the council. If you have a big backyard you can recycle your food waste through composting. If you haven’t already, you can start recycling your food waste!

Phillipa says that there is a plan to roll out our food recycling bins to all households by October 2023.

Here’s how it will work:

• A weekly collection of the green bin from houses which will contain both food and garden waste.
• In September, a green topped kitchen caddy will be delivered to every house in the Inner West.
• A Comprehensive Education program to be rolled out leading up to the scheme which starts in October.
• A continuation of the existing scheme for apartment blocks where a burgundy food recycling bin is collected weekly.