Kitchen caddy home delivery could save Marion Council hundreds of thousands

A western suburbs council will give every single household a free kitchen caddy in an attempt to reduce the amount of green waste ending up in landfill.

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A bold green-waste plan will cost Marion Council more than $200,000, but could save it up to $800,000 a year on landfill costs in the long term.

The council will deliver a kitchen caddy and compostable bin liners to all 40,000 households in its area in an effort to reduce the amount of green waste going to landfill.

While the council already offers the benchtop bins for free, the program has a low uptake, with just 5 per cent of residents collecting them.

The caddies are used to help dispose of food scraps in green bins instead of household waste bins.

Mayor Kris Hanna said the council hoped home delivery would encourage more people to use the caddies.

“We know there are a lot of people out there that want to do the right thing by the environment but they’ll only do it if it’s easy and practical, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve,” Mr Hanna said.

At its September meeting, the council voted to spend $202,500 to kickstart the home-delivery program by the end of June 2021.

It will apply for an additional $382,725 grant from Green Industries SA to support the program.

Alicia Sandercock with her daughters Summer, 6 and Ruby, 8, use the Kitchen Caddy to dispose of their kitchen green waste at their Warradale home. Picture: Mark Brake

A council report said if all organic material could be diverted from landfill, it would save the council $805,210 a year.

“Realistically, 100 per cent diversion is unlikely,” the report said. “However, even if 20 per cent of organic material was diverted, this would save council $161,000 a year on disposal costs.”

Mr Hanna said the program was a large but worthwhile investment.

“It costs council five times as much if things go in the red bin and that gets put into landfill,” he said.

“Green waste makes up 35 per cent – over a third of the landfill that we bury – and that could all be taken out and used as organic products.

“If we can bring that 35 per cent down to 3 or even 5 per cent, we will be saving ratepayers a huge amount and helping the environment.”

Marion is one of several Adelaide councils that offer free kitchen caddies.

In May, the State Government announced more than $3m would be available to SA councils to help get food waste out of landfill.

Warradale resident Alicia Sandercock praised the kitchen caddy initiative.

“Having the caddy strongly encourages people to use their green bin more, and when the council is making it so easy it really makes people want to jump on board,” she said. “Any way we can educate the future generations about creating a sustainable world and reducing landfill is the ultimate goal.”