Stats:
Australia Bureau of Statistics
financial year 2018-19 (latest results avail)
20% of our total waste in Australia was organic waste!
20%!
15.3 million tonnes of it.

Methane versus Carbon Dioxide:

When organic matter breaks down in landfill it does so anaerobically and this is bad news as it produces methane. Methane is 25 times more potent than CO2. CO2 has the number 1 spot when it comes to global warming because it lasts for centuries in our atmosphere. Methane has the number 2 slot because, although it only lasts for about a decade, it has up to 100x the warming effect of CO2.

Stats:
ABS 2018/19
Almost half of the organic waste created in Australia (45%) is sent to landfill.
6.9 million tonnes
6.9 million tonnes of useful organic waste, buried in our limited landfill sites.
No way!

It was us:

Well over a third (42%) of all the organic waste was created in our homes.
6.4 million tonnes of organic!

These statistics sound scary – but you know what? They’re not. They don’t scare me. They make me excited.

You wanna know why?

Because there are so many great ways to reduce, reuse and recycle our organic waste. Everything we need to fix this particular part of the climate crisis already exists and we just need to implement a strategy or two of our choice.

What can we do?

When organic matter breaks down naturally, for example in our compost bins or worms farms, the methane is DRAMATICALLY reduced. Plus it has heaps of other benefits too!

REDUCE

1. Reduce waste
– Cut the food waste out at the source – Meal plan, shop from a list and NEVER shop when you’re hungry.
– Order your food shop online to cut out impulse buying which may lead to future waste.

2. Store food well
– Store fruits and veggies appropriately to make them last longer, for example, carrots and celery last longer stored in water.
– Place anything that needs eating soon at eye level in your fridge, including leftovers.
– Make stews, soups or stock with food items that are not so fresh anymore.
– Freeze food before it goes bad. You can freeze so many things, for example, chop herbs and freeze in butter in ice cube trays

3. Grow food
– Growing some of your food allows you to harvest on demand (a great place to start is with herbs or citrus)

 

RECYCLE

– We can’t help but create some food waste, but there are so many things you can do with it, ALL of which are way better for our beautiful planet than sending it to landfill.

If you are lucky enough to have organic waste collection curbside use it and love it, you are the lucky ones. If you don’t drop your council or shire a quick email saying you’d like it!

Then could you do one, or more, of these?

• Compost
• Set up a worm farm
• Feed some chickens – they LOVE scraps
• Bokashi / urban composter

Get creative:

If you don’t want to have your own chickens/compost perhaps one of your neighbours would like your scrapes for their setup? I have chickens, a worm farm and compost bins – I’m always in the market for scraps and I take anything!

• Post on buy, swap, sell or buy nothing pages or try the ShareWaste app to see if someone will come and collect your organic waste.
• Join your local community garden, freeze your food waste and then drop it off to their compost/worm farm.

Even if you only get some of your food waste out of landfill that will help.

• Coffee grinds are great for the garden and can just get thrown on top of the soil for some plants (all plants if you’re me).

It’s worth it:

Some of these things may seem hard to set up, but they aren’t (not that hard) and the environmental damage you will prevent will be immense! REMEMBER 20% of ALL waste in Oz is organic and most of it comes from our homes!

 

Added Benefits:

• Fertilizer –The other BIG benefit is organic waste can actually be turned into a VERY useful new product. Liquid and solid fertilisers for your plants, indoor and out. This will save you money as you won’t need to buy fertiliser AND this, in turn, will reduce your plastic waste – the eco-wins just keep on coming.
• Carbon sequestering – Compost / worm farm / bokashi / chickens – these all act as a form of carbon sequestering. You are keeping the carbon down here, in the soil, where we want it. Not up there, in the air, making us hotter and hotter.
• Plant yields & biodiversity increase: Using your homemade fertiliser will improve the quality of your soil, increasing the health and yields of your plants AND increasing the micro-biodiversity of your soil. What???? So much goodness and I’ve been throwing it in the bin! I know, it’s tragic, but it’s over now. A new dawn is here and we can all change together.

 

The environmental wins of removing organic waste from landfill are massive. And we all win.

Help – If you need more know-how drop us an email or a DM and tell us what you need – we’re here to help.

 

Locals:

• Worm farms/compost- If you’re located in the beautiful South West of WA and need some help setting up your worm farm or compost – then contact our friends at Reconnect To Nature and the beautiful Alisa will show you everything you need to know from the comfort of her beautiful, productive, fully-organic no-dig dream of a garden. Her prices start from just $35, a real bargain!
  https://reconnecttonature.bigcartel.com/category/workshops
• Herb & Veggie Seedlings – We have a fab local source of organic, heirloom vegetable seedlings, but she’s difficult to pin down, so drop us a message and we can tell you where & when to get your hands on those.
• Dunsborough/Busselton/Cowaramup/Margs Community Gardens – So many SW towns have community gardens and they are usually around $20 to join for a year – a pretty cheap way to get rid of your food waste.