What happens to your waste when it’s collected?

1. Your food and green waste are collected by your local council weekly or fortnightly and sent to composting facilities around the state.
2. The waste must be decontaminated once it arrives at the facility. This involves staff manually removing items that cannot be composted, such as plastic bags.
3. A screening process separates small and bigger food and green waste. Small items go straight to compost and the larger items are shredded before sent to compost.
4. The food and green waste are sent to a composting area, which can take over 14 days. This can generate temps of above 60 degrees to kill any weeds, seeds, harmful bacteria to meet Australian compost standards.
5. The compost is moved and screened again (for the final time).
6. Two grades of composts are produced – one fine and one courser.
7. The compost is loaded into trucks and transported for use in agriculture, such as farms to help grow healthy foods as well as parks and gardens to enrich the soil.

Sources:

• Back to Earth Initiative - https://www.mwrrg.vic.gov.au/back-to-earth/
• Sacyr Composting Facility - https://www.sacyrconcesiones.com/-/sacyr-melbourne-composting-facility