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Christchurch City Scene
September 2002

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City food scraps trial successful


City food scraps trial successful
Measuring how much each home produced was part of the trial.

Early results from a trail to collect food scraps from city homes suggest Christchurch could use the idea to take a huge bite out of the amount it puts into landfills each year.

The eight-week trial collection, which ended in July, was the first of its kind to be done in New Zealand and is being watched eagerly by councils throughout the country. Taking part were about 300 homes in Burnside and Fendalton. The scraps bins were put out each week along with the green recycling bins. People in those homes were questioned about the service when it ended and the results indicate people would support a kerbside collection.

Of those who took part, 98 per cent rated the service either good or very good, and 96% said they would keep using it if it was provided.

More than half the households taking part put out their scraps container every week of the trial.

The Council collected an average of 5kg a week from each home. Over the eight weeks it meant 12 tonnes was collected.

About 90% noticed the amount of rubbish going into their black bags had dropped.

Keeping plant matter and food scraps out of the landfill is a priority for the Christchurch City Council because it takes a lot of space, creates pollution and is burying something that could be made into a useful product — compost.

In 1998, the Council set itself a target to cut the amount of green and kitchen waste each city person is sending to landfill by 90% by 2010. That is 90% of 1994 figures. It is part of a wider plan to cut the over-all waste stream by 65% by 2020.

Of all the waste now going into the Christchurch landfill about a third — 76,000 tonnes a year — is organic waste. Most of that, a little over 50,000t, is garden organics.

Food scraps makes up the balance of 25,000t. As this material rots, it creates leachate and methane, a greenhouse gas.

Already, the Council’s Garden City Composting unit keeps about 32,000t of garden waste out of the landfill by turning it into compost. That is the material brought into the drop-off points at transfer stations.

The Council plans to encourage more of this. It is looking at options to build a large enclosed composting plant that could take in a wider range of material, including kitchen scraps.

The recent food scraps collection trial is part of work being done to make sure the project is workable and will be accepted by people before money is spent on equipment and collection systems.

The trail was set up on the understanding that, to be successful, all food scraps except liquids (oils, liquid fats, sauces and juices) should be collected. Planners were looking at a wide range of material — cooked and uncooked meat, fish and vegetables, as well as bones, shells, coffee grinds, tea bags and mouldy food.

As well as helping the environment and reusing a resource, planners believe a city-wide kitchen scraps collection could have other benefits, including providing a quality alternative to home composting and helping to keep the city tidy because fewer black bags will be ripped open by animals trying to get at food scraps.

Staff will ask the Council for permission to run another trail this summer. If they get the goahead it will again be run in a selected area.

Under current planning it is likely to be several years yet until the service is running throughout the city. Selecting and building a sealed composting plant could take up to two years and the system is likely to begin with commercial waste, which is more simple to collect, and then move on to domestic kitchen scraps.

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