Reducing emissions from kerbside organics Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service delivery Support for local government Gayle Seddon Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group (MWRRG)

Department of Land, Water and Planning MWRRG & 6 regional WRRGs EPA Department of Land, Water and Planning Sustainability Victoria Waste portfolio responsibilities DELWP Legislative amendments, Waste policy, Portfolio leadership and coordination, Inter-government department relations EPA Pollution control, Regulatory body, Works approvals Help local government with strategic and statutory land use planning activities SV Legislative responsibility to develop the Statewide Waste & Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan, Data provision, Program development & delivery Planning activities related to the statewide waste and resource recovery system MWRRG Legislative responsibility to develop a Metropolitan Waste & Resource Recovery Implementation Plan, Procurement & Contracts, Education & engagement, Planning, setting infrastructure and landfill schedules

Who we work with the 31 councils who make up the Metro region Victorian State Government Statutory Body responsible for coordinating and facilitating the delivery of waste management and resource recovery across metropolitan Melbourne MWRRG’s planning role is responsible for all waste streams – municipal solid waste (MSW), construction and demolition waste (C&D) and commercial and industrial waste (C&I). We work with Melbourne's 31 metropolitan councils to: plan for waste management and resource recovery facilities and services across metropolitan Melbourne facilitate joint procurement of facilities and services to provide better economic, environmental and waste management outcomes for councils help build the capacity and knowledge of councils and their communities of world best practice waste minimisation and the opportunities and options available for improved services and infrastructure.

MWRRG Vision To reduce waste and maximise resource recovery in the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery region

Metropolitan Plan Strategic Objectives

Composition of metropolitan Melbourne’s kerbside garbage going to landfill 8% garden 36% food (EC Sustainable, 2014) proportions of garbage that are garden or food organics will vary from council to council factors: housing density (larger blocks = more garden organics) average rainfall and ‘leafiness’ of suburbs (this varies, with western and northern areas having less rainfall than eastern and south eastern suburbs) garbage bin size (smaller bins generally means less garden waste and a higher proportion of food because other waste items will not fit in the bins) demographics.

Kerbside bin collection services metro Melbourne, 2016-17 316,080 tonnes food = 600,552 CO2-e (t) 70,240 tonnes garden = 133,456 CO2-e (t)

Emissions from food waste 250,000 tonnes of avoidable food waste sent to landfill each year from Victorian households (1 in 5 shopping bags) Potential to generate up to 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (C02e) per year (Sustainability Victoria 2014) Each tonne of food - potential to emit methane equivalent to about 2 tonnes of CO2 This is for a landfill without gas capture, gas from food is emitted in the first 3-5 years before most landfills establish gas management, ‘best practice’ landfill gas management (e.g. Wollert) might get 60% plus of the gas from food, but the others with post closure gas management will get 40% or less. National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) factors (using the calculation that also allows for oxidisation of 10% of methane as it passed through the upper surface of the landfill are: NGERS Emissions factors - tonnes CO2-e/tonne of waste Food waste 1.9 Garden waste 1.4 NGER assumes a global warming potential factor of 25 x CO2 over a hundred year period, IPCC now uses 28 x which brings it up to 2.1, recent IPCC - factor should be adjusted to 34 X and over a shorter periods the warming potential of methane is much higher. Moisture and nutrient in food create biochemical conditions in landfill that degrade high carbon materials such as paper and wood, resulting in more fugitive emissions and less ‘sequestration’ of carbon in landfill. Best Practice’ would be to ban food from landfill – as the EU first did in the 1990s and many US and Canadian states/provinces are doing.

emissions from food waste City of Glen Eira emissions from food waste Emissions control and influence Glen Eira City Council has calculated the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from food organics sent to landfill. Glen Eira introduced food organics into the kerbside garden organics collection service in May 2018. Prior to this council downsized the household garbage bin and provided a free garden organics bin roll-out. Almost 80% of Glen Eira households have a garden organics bin, with a further uptake occurring since the introduction of its food organics collection as part of the service.

Opportunity & benefits Reduce GHG emissions Carbon credits through Emissions Reduction Fund Biogas renewable energy source Soil improver/ compost Soil carbon sequestration Community is ready to support the change

Understanding emissions from my food waste watchmywaste.com.au 4kg food waste = 7.6 CO2-e (kg) 1 black balloon = 50g CO2-e 4000g food waste = 7600 CO2-e (g) = 152 black balloons

Working Draft - FOGO Guide practical, step by step guide to planning, implementing, monitoring and improving a FOGO service tools & templates - business case, FOGO service options, performance model, project management & communications planners community engagement strategies & tactics council FOGO case studies latest social research testing different approaches to introducing a FOGO service

B2E - how what we put into our green bins can become a useful product that nourishes gardens and farms. Increase awareness of the benefits of organic recycling Improve knowledge about what can and can’t go in the organics bin Increase confidence that materials aren’t ending up in landfill Build understanding of what happens to recycled organic materials >74% of people report they understand the environmental benefits of green waste recycling >28% of people report they understand ‘very well’ what can go in their green waste bin >26% of people are ‘very confident’ that green waste is recycled >78% of people report they believe recycling green waste produces garden products that can help increase soil nutrients 80,000 people from 19 metro councils engaged via: Garden competition (schools & community groups) Compost donations (schools, community gardens & Melton Botanic Gardens) MWRRG and council events. partnership 19 metro councils in Melbourne’s north, west and south east, 4  regional councils in northern Victoria - Bayside, Banyule, Brimbamk, Casey, Cardinia, Gdandenong, Darebin, Frankston, Glen Eira, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Kingston, Maribyrnong, Melton, MVCC, Monash, Moreland, Nillumbik, Wyndham, Benalla, Moira, Strathbogie, Greater Shepparton state-of-the-art, large-capacity green waste in-vessel composting technology to process organic waste at Bulla in the City of Hume by Veolia Environmental Services Western Composting - another  state-of-the-art, technology-leading organics processing facility located in Greater Shepparton City Council backtoearth.vic.gov.au