Trial starts to cut kitchen waste
A group of households around the city has agreed to
help the City Council see if a system to collect kitchen
food scraps can work. The Council recently wrote to some ratepayers asking
them to take part in the recycling trial and is now
working to start the Kitchen Organics Recycling
scheme. Kitchen organics include food scraps, fruit and
vegetable trimmings, bones and leftovers. The Council is looking at this part of the waste stream
because it makes up about half of what people put into
their rubbish bags. In surveys done by the Council,
residents have said they are interested in a kerbside
collection of kitchen scraps but many also said it is
difficult to compost their kitchen organics at home. Because these materials can easily be turned into
useful compost, the Council thinks collecting and
composting this material is the biggest step the City can
take to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill. Households which have volunteered to take part in
the two-month trial get a special bin and instructions
about what can be put into it. They will put their
organics recycling container out on their normal rubbish
collection day with their black bags and green recycling
crates. At the end of the trial the Council will ask those who
took part what they thought of the service. With the kitchen organics service, the City Council is
looking toward a more sustainable future, says
Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore. “We want Christchurch citizens to have the best
possible combination of services and to minimise the
City’s impact on the environment,” he says. “Organic
matter is the largest part of the Christchurch waste
stream. It is largely responsible for the greenhouse
gases produced from the landfill and organic matter can
readily be made into useful compost.” If you have any questions about organic recycling,
call us on 941 1830 or see our website,
www.ccc.govt.nz/waste |