Toowoomba Regional Council floats food scraps collection in new waste management strategy

The Toowoomba Regional Council will consider weekly food scraps and organic waste collection as part of a new strategy.

The Toowoomba Regional Council is considering a weekly green waste collection that would include food scraps, in a bid to reduce the amount heading to landfill.

Weekly kerbside collection of food scraps and organics will be considered by the Toowoomba Regional Council, as part of its new waste management strategy.

Councillors voted at the committee meeting on Tuesday morning to endorse the new plan, which aimed to significantly reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfill.

Among the opportunities outlined by the report, the council will explore developing a kerbside food and organics collection service and tender a new collection contract to the local processing or organics and recyclables.

TRC water and waste portfolio leader Cr Nancy Sommerfield said a key focus of the new strategy was identifying waste as a resource instead of a problem.

“The plan includes targets for waste reduction and diversion from landfill, which will have operational cost savings and environmental benefits,” Cr Sommerfield said.

“We have adopted the state government’s ambitious targets for the diversion of domestic waste from landfill to ensure we continue to offer the community opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle materials that can be re-purposed.

“This goal will be achieved through five outcomes and 18 specific actions outlined in the new strategy.”

The council will also investigate creating a local materials recovery facility to process recycled materials, as well as take part in the Container Refund Scheme.

TRC water and waste chair Cr Rebecca Vonhoff said the council appreciated the high priority that residents placed on good waste management.

“This was highlighted during the community consultation we conducted in late 2020 when more than 900 people completed the survey. What our residents told us has been used to shape the new strategy,” she said.

“Waste management is an essential public service and the council’s strategic vision of ‘a Sustainable Tomorrow’ will help improve service delivery for residents while also meeting legislative and environmental requirements.”