Odours
Households can explore any number of techniques to reduce odours. We recommend trying these alone or in combination to find what works best for you:
- Garden wastes can be used to absorb food odours. Try lining the base of the bin with green waste before adding food scraps. Garden prunings and grass clippings are great for this.
- Store smelly food scraps like meat or seafood in the freezer until bin night
- Make sure the bin is kept out of the sun, in a shaded area.
- Keep the lid of the bin closed to prevent smells.
- Don't overfill the bin to the point where you cannot close the lid.
- Clean and rinse the bin and caddy regularly.
- Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda into the clean and rinsed bin to absorb smells.
- Line the kitchen caddy with 1 - 2 sheets newspaper or paper towel. Never use plastic bags, not even compostable ones.
- Let hot food scraps cool down before placing them in your caddy or bin.
Rubbish collection frequency | Will fortnightly be enough?
We conducted a trial with 500 residents across Banyule last year, who found that a fortnightly collection was more than enough once they moved their food waste into the Food and Garden waste bin.
Remember:
- Over 40% of household waste in Banyule is food waste, and this can be deposited in your food and garden waste bin to be collected weekly from the kerbside.
- We are upgrading your bin size. If you currently have an 80L bin, you will be receiving a 140L bin.
- Soft plastics including carry bags, food packets and wrappers, plus more can be recycled for free in the RedCycle bins at Coles or Woolworths.
- Plastic bottles and containers, tin and aluminium cans, glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard cab go into your recycling bin.
- Many other waste products including paint tins, electronic waste, batteries and more can be disposed of at the Waste Recovery Centre, either for a small fee or for free.
- When shopping, try writing a list to avoid purchasing excessive items that may end up in the bin. Opt for products with less packaging. Avoiding waste is one of the easiest ways to reduce your household waste.
- Household do have the option to pay for a larger 240L bin.
Kitchen caddy
A kitchen caddy is a small, plastic container used for storing and transporting your food scraps. It has a handle and a lid.
It is useful in collecting your food scraps as you prepare food in the kitchen, or when cleaning up after a meal. Once full, carry it to your green lidded food and garden waste bin and tip in the loose food scraps.
You can line your caddy with 1 - 2 sheets of newspaper or paper towel. But no plastic bags or liners of any kind (not even compostable ones) can be placed in the kitchen caddy or food and garden waste bin, as these cannot be processed through our contracted composting facilities.
Kitchen caddies are made of 100% post-consumer recycled materials and are dishwasher safe.
Nappies
We are here to assist you with the new service.
We want to reassure you that while many families in our recent FOGO trial had concerns at the beginning of the trial, most found they had adequate room once their food waste moved into their green lid bin.
Reusable nappies are another option and to help we run workshops with families that are looking to reduce the volume of disposable nappies sent to landfill. Give us a call on 9490 4222 for details on how to participate.
The standard rubbish bin size is 140L. If needed, you can pay for an upsized larger 240L bin.
Composting | we're already doing it
That's fantastic, thank you! Continue your at home composting and use the Food and Garden waste service to complement your home composting.
Any food waste that you may not add to your compost, bokashi or worm farm, for instance meat, seafood, dairy, citrus, garlic, onion, bones, eggshells, leftover food can be added to the food and garden waste bin.
Extra costs for FOGO
There will be no additional costs to residents for the food and garden waste service.