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Did you know that pizza boxes and dog poo can go in your green organics bin?
In fact, the folk at Cleanaway would like to see lots more pizza boxes put in the green bin because they contain carbon … an essential ingredient in the composting cycle.
Cleanaway and the City of Whyalla are working together to update residents on what they can and can’t put in their red, yellow and green bins. Cleanaway is the company contracted to pick up waste from households in Whyalla.
Council made the switch to commercial composting of its organics kerbside-collected material in 2016 but there are still people who don’t realise you can put food scraps in the green bin.
With funding obtained from Green Industries SA, Council and Cleanaway have created “Good to Go” stickers which will be applied to the green kerbside bins across Whyalla. This means that all households, and all 22,500 residents, will have a clear, visual reminder of what food scraps they can included in their green bin (instead of placing it in general (red) waste bin).
Along with banners in the Whyalla main street and lots of social media promotion, we’re sparking the conversation that it is ‘okay to put food scraps in the green bin’.
Cleanaway Education Officer, Linley Golat said more organic material going into the green bins means less material going into landfill and this has both financial and environmental benefits. Green bin material it is heated for several days to eliminate any harmful bacteria and comes out the other end as valuable compost for garden beds and parks.
Material not suitable for the green bins (like bricks, building materials, textiles, plastic etc) can mess up this process and waste valuable resources.
“We’re hoping this fresh awareness campaign will help change the behaviour of households by making it clear that kitchen scraps and other organic matter is welcome in green-lidded bins,” Linley said.
“As we’ve already demonstrated in many metropolitan Council areas, the shifting of food scraps from landfill bins (the red ones) to organics bins (the green ones) is significant, especially in terms of weight.
This latest campaign is also aiming to minimise contamination (material which shouldn’t go into green bins).
Apart from the regular garden cuttings, items that can go in the green bin include egg shells, fish scraps, dog poo, general food waste (including meat and dairy), fruit and vegetable scraps, meat bones, pizza boxes, paper towels (with food or drink spills) and shredded paper.
A comprehensive list of what is allowed and what is not allowed is included on the pamphlet below along with items that can go in the yellow recycling bin and the red landfill bin.
If you are unsure, ring Council on 8640 3444, Cleanaway on 1300 559 206 or the Recycle Right Hotline 1300 137 118 or go to www.whyalla.sa.gov.au or www.recycleright.sa.gov.au
