Organics

There is only one technology that we know of that can reliably suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it. Photosynthesis. It is what every plant on the planet does every day.

Landfilled organics result to significant GHG emissions and a waste of valuable nutrients. Banning the landfilling of household and commercial food and garden waste would stimulate jobs growth, divert millions of tonnes from landfill, generate compost, sequester carbon in soils and reduce Australia's GHG footprint.

The NSW DPIE conducted an excellent review of FOGO performance across 34 Councils in NSW. Average performance is a poor indicator of the trends in FOGO so Mike Ritchie, re-analysed the data to look at individual Council performance and summarised his findings in an informative article.

Following up on Virginia Brunton's well received "Where to with food waste" article, Mike Ritchie discusses FOGO in MUDs. Mike argues that collecting FOGO from MUDs is not just feasible, it is necessary. Getting food and garden waste out of all households will: - reduce #waste to #landfill by 50% or more - save up to 2.7% of Australia’s GHG emissions and - produce millions of tonnes of soil enhancing compost.

The WA Waste Authority is providing $20m to local governments over the next 6 years to implement a three-bin FOGO kerbside service.

Sustainability Victoria recently opened the Bioenergy Infrastructure Fund grants offering a total of $750,000 in funding for government organisations (including state, local and federal), community organisations, businesses and social enterprises over two streams; Infrastructure and Business case or feasibility/technical study.

Vegetable growers across Australia must comply with strict requirements to ensure the food they produce is safe for consumers. Farmers purchasing compost should be asking their supplier for a proof of compliance.

The International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW), celebrated every year during the first full week of May, represents a great opportunity for joining compost related workshops, seminars and activities. Abroad and in Australia, the compost industry and enthusiasts rev up the efforts to increase awareness of the importance of compost and to promote the use of compost and related products.

Mike Ritchie will present on "Removal of food and organics from waste to landfill – prospects and issues" at ASBG's Queensland seminar in Lidcombe on 12 April 2019. Read on for the full program and to learn how to get the MRA client discount.

ABC's latest War on Waste series has recently concluded and it has been a resounding success. This year the spotlight has been turned to plastic water bottles, straws, e-waste, fast furniture, the recycling crisis and food waste. On that last front, MRA's Mike Ritchie made an appearance to talk about why we need Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) services across the nation.

At a recent meeting with Local Government Mayors and CEO’s, a claim was made that transporting organics by truck to a distant compost facility (in this case 150km away) would emit more greenhouse gases than landfilling it locally. Thinking that the carbon forcing factor of methane from landfill (25 times CO2) would render that claim incorrect, I thought I should go back and check the maths.

Australia has a significant and growing challenge in how it manages its waste. Tonnages continue to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 6.2%, six times faster than population growth, and 2.5 times faster than GDP growth. Landfill costs are increasing due to landfill levies and landfill scarcity.