Council expands organics trial to local cafes
Date published: 15 November 2022
Twenty local cafes are taking part in a Townsville City Council trial to reduce the amount of waste material going to landfills.
Cafes involved in the Commercial Food Organic (CoFO) trial have received a 140L bin collected three times a week by Council.
Mayor Jenny Hill said information from the trial would help guide the design of future commercial organics collections.
“Just like at homes, food organic waste makes up a large portion of what is discarded at cafes and hospitality venues,” Cr Hill said.
“Like the Food Organic Garden Organic (FOGO) trials Council is running in select areas of Townsville, cafes will be encouraged to use the new bins to recover any food organic waste.
“We expect to be able to divert up to 900 wheelie bins, or 72 tonnes, of waste from going to landfill over the three-month trial.
“The collected material will be processed into compost by a local landscaping company for use across the city.”
Townsville Water and Waste Committee chairperson Russ Cook said the trial was about gathering information to make an informed decision on the benefits of rolling out the program city-wide.
“The trial will study the effectiveness of a workable collection service, the need for educational and information materials, composting practices for mixed food and packaging, the contamination levels of collected materials, the diversion of organic material and satisfaction levels with the service,” Cr Cook said.
“Waste management is a considerable cost for Council and business owners, and we can’t keep doing what was done in the past. We need new and innovative solutions to tackle waste.
“Council is committed to diverting up to 60 per cent of material from landfill by 2026 and working towards achieving zero waste to landfill by 2030.
“Council has set ambitious targets, and we need to look at initiatives like CoFO and FOGO to achieve those results.”
The trial is running from September 26 to December 16 and is partly funded by the Queensland Government.
The initiative is in collaboration with Plastic Free Townsville and Townsville City Council.
