Darebin green waste bins to accept kitchen scraps from October

Households in Melbourne’s north will soon be able to save their veggies, bones, meat and bread from heading to the tip thanks to a new kerbside collection service. And it’s expected to save up to 1600 tonnes of emissions.

Katrina Forstner has saved more than 1.5 tonnes of waste from landfill.

Up to 1600 tonnes of emissions could be saved when Darebin householders are able to put food scraps into their green waste bins.

From October, kerbside collections will be taken to the Veolia recycling facility in Bulla and transformed into compost for Victorian farmers.

Food products make up about 38 per cent of Darebin waste sent to landfill.

Bones, meat, fish and bread will be allowed in the bins.

Darebin Mayor Susan Rennie said the new service was designed to be in addition to householder composting efforts.

The service will accept items not usually compostable including bones, meat, citrus, fish and bread.

Composting guru Katrina Forstner collects kitchen scraps from 32 different households and diverted more than 1.5 tonnes of waste from landfill in one year.

She estimated more than 2.91 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided.

Ms Forstner said a lot of people who donated scraps were just glad to be part of the process.

“People are pretty blown away at how much can be collected,” she said.

“Everyone gets a feel good factor for doing their bit.”

Ms Forstner connects with neighbours through the ShareWaste app, which links people wanting to recycle to others already composting.

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The council conducted a six-month trial of the service in Kingsbury last year.

General waste bins will be collected weekly, and recycling and green waste bins will be collected fortnightly.

Households will receive more information about the service closer to the start date.

@richardapearce