Brisbane residents fill up rubbish bins with recycling and food waste

Brisbane City Council says residents are doing rubbish wrong. Here’s where we’re going wrong.

Brisbane City Council says two-thirds of rubbish in red-top wheelie bins could be recycled or composted.

A MAJORITY of rubbish in Brisbane’s red-top wheelie bins could be recycled and turned into something better but instead it is going to waste and taking up space.

Brisbane City Council Field Services chairwoman Vicki Howard said two-thirds of waste in the average resident’s red-top wheelie bin could be composted or recycled.

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About one-third is traditional recyclables like paper, cereal boxes and glass and the rest is kitchen scraps and food waste, which could be turned into compost.

Instead it is all going to landfill.

The top three recyclables that end up in the red-top wheelie bin instead of the yellow-top recycling bin are paper or magazines, packaging like cereal boxes and glass bottles.

Cr Howard said although the amount of recycling in waste bins had decreased from 25 per cent to 17 per cent in five years, there was room to improve.

“The top three recyclables in household bins are paper or magazines, food packaging boxes such as cereal boxes, and glass bottles,” she said.

“We don’t want any recycling going into landfill, so we’ll continue working with Brisbane residents to provide more information and make it even easier to recycle.”

Northey Street City Farm is one of the many community compost hubs that can help turn your food scraps into compost for their garden. Picture: Patria Jannides

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said food waste was the “largest contributor” to avoidable rubbish in the city’s landfill, and created greenhouse gases at the tip.

“Council is committed to reducing the amount of recyclables going to landfill, which contributes to greenhouse gases, and has introduced a series of community composting hubs across the city to provide an easy way for residents to live more sustainably,” he said.

He said residents who could not recycle at home could join a community composting hub to donate their kitchen scraps to a local community garden.

Volunteers sign up online or at their local ward office for a free compost caddie and pick it up from a community composting hub and start collecting food scraps to donate.

What can you compost?

Banana peels (extra perk: puts potassium in the garden)

Kitchen scraps and vegetable peelings

Citrus peelings and scraps (Do not put worm farm composting systems)

Onion peelings and scraps (can smell bad so bury in the pile and add paper, do not put in worm compost systems)

Fruit scraps (bury in the compost and cover with paper to deter fruit flies)

Potato scraps (squash, mash, or finely dice to stop from reproducing)

Non-glossy paper, including newspapers, and cardboard (can help with bad smells, shred them up and damp them first)

Sawdust or dried plants (but keep away from sawdust from treated wood)

Egg shells (extra perk: calcium for the garden)

Used coffee grounds and tea leaves (including tea bags)

Natural fabrics, like cotton and linen

Garden waste and grass clippings

What can’t you compost? (And what to be aware of)

Bread and rice

Human, dog and cat manure (it can make you sick)

Meat and dairy products

Inorganic materials like plastic or glass or tin (it sounds obvious but ...)

Cooking oils and fats

Weeds (best avoided but some methods can compost weeds - do your research!)

Diseased plants

Tomatoes and capsicum seeds (sprout easily when the compost reaches the garden)