In short:
Diverting waste from landfill is an increasing priority across the country.
asserted
Diverting → divert → country
The Queensland government wants to recycle 65 per cent of the state's waste by 2035.
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government → want → 2035
Addressing food and garden waste is key but a lack of green and FOGO bin services has brought home recycling and composting into focus.
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lack → address → focus
Every drop makes an ocean is a motto sustainable-living champion Benjamin Head wants everyone to be guided by.
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everyone → make → ocean
From food scraps and garden clippings to paper, cardboard, old bottle caps and packaging material, the 62-year-old puts to use materials many of us throw out as general rubbish.
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many → put → rubbish
Over more than two decades, Mr Head has made his suburban home on the Gold Coast a waste ecosystem of its own and has seen his rubbish pile progressively shrink.
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pile → make → own
"It's gradually getting less and less," he said.
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he → get → ?
"I get a bit more money in my pocket and we leave the Gold Coast in a better place for our future generations.
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we → get → generations
"Think before you toss.
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you → think → ?
Look in the bin and see if there's anything of value and pull that out, it doesn't take very long, and put that into a separate bin or bucket."
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it → look → bin
Mr Head said his farming background gave him a head start with integrating the circular-economy model into his daily life, but recycling habits could be adopted by anybody, and on any scale.
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habits → say → scale
His process is simple: most leftovers from the kitchen table and cooking go into a large backyard composting bin and some to feed the chickens.
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leftovers → go → chickens
Cane mulch, grass clippings, flowers and leaves are added to the composting mix, along with shreds of paper and cardboard.
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mulch → add → paper
The product is a nutrient-rich soil, which Mr Head puts back into the garden to grow a variety of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, saving money on the grocery shop.
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Head → put → shop
"We have 300,000 tonnes of [residual] waste [annually] in the Gold Coast; we have 680,000 people," he said.
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he → have → people
"If we can get everybody to do a little bit, then we're heading in the right direction."
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we → get → direction
Organics infrastructure lacking
What Mr Head does forms part of a much larger goal by government to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and to improve recycling rates.
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does → lack → rates
Queensland's latest waste strategy, released in June, sets a target of reducing residual waste, collected from statewide red bins, by 65 per cent in the next decade.
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strategy → release → decade
Addressing food and garden waste is a top priority under the plan.
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Addressing → address → plan
Half of the state's total landfill waste comprises organics, which, upon decomposing, produce the dangerous greenhouse gas methane.
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which → comprise → methane
However, just 11 of Queensland's 77 councils provide a kerbside green bin service for garden waste and only some provide FOGO bins for food and organic waste, by request.
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some → provide → request
It is also in this region where the strategy has set the biggest landfill-reduction target of 70 per cent over 10 years.
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strategy → set → years
Council-led initiatives, such as the Advanced Resource Recovery Centre (ARRC) on the Gold Coast, have introduced programs incentivising residential organic recycling.
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initiatives → lead → recycling
"That's an opportunity for residents of the Gold Coast to get low-cost home composting and worm farms available," ARRC CEO Grant Gabriel said.
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Gabriel → get → Coast
"It's important that all Australians think about what goes into your green bin and, if any of that can be turned into home composting to make their gardens more healthy, where they're growing roses or fruit out of there, there's an opportunity for everyone to really bring that circularity into their home.
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everyone → think → home
The waste strategy also recognises the need to provide additional funding for organics-processing infrastructure, including green bins, and support for activities such as home composting and community composting.
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strategy → recognise → composting
Mr Gabriel said to improve the overall resource recovery rate, the amount of total waste reused, recycled or turned into energy, it was also important to have conversations about developing the end market for recycled products, and invest in landfill alternatives like waste to energy.
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it → say → energy
Push for top-down messaging
Circular-economy expert Bel Chellingworth said, when it came to managing organic waste at home, many residents were restricted by a lack of space.
"
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residents → say → space
I lived in a rental unit and I had a small household, so I had a worm farm, but it couldn't cope with everything that even I produced in one week," she said.
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she → live → week
"And it was really only when my council introduced the food waste bin that I could put all of my food waste out of landfill and into the worm farm and the bin as a combination."
Ms Chellingworth said larger-scale home composting could be a highly effective solution for residents living in regional areas and those with larger backyards.
However, she said the onus of improving recycling rates and better waste management ultimately fell on national policymakers.
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onus → introduce → policymakers
"We certainly need to see some consistent messaging and some consistent assistance from the federal government down to the states and territories and then down to councils,"she said.
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We → need → councils,"she
The federal government earlier this month quietly stalled changes promised in 2023 to mandate more recycled material in packaging and has also abandoned its goal to roll out green bins for all Australian households.
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government → stall → households
The Aporia