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Northgate mother of two Fiona Hardie-Wade loves
her BioBasket household waste bin, which Port
Adelaide Enfield Council has made available to
all the city’s residents.
“With two little children we generate a lot of household
waste, but the BioBasket is so easy to use” Fiona said.
“It’s small and convenient, and the bags go straight
into our green lidded wheelie bin for collection by the
Council, meaning that there’s no smelly waste building
up inside the kitchen.”
“And it’s great to know we’re also doing the right thing
by the environment – even my husband has started
using it now,” she added.
Food scraps make up around 40 per cent, by weight, in
the average household waste bin that is sent to landfill.
That’s why every household in Port Adelaide Enfield has
been given a kitchen organics BioBasket to divert food
scraps from landfill and turn them into compost that
can be used to make gardens more water efficient and
to add rich nutrients to the soil.
The impact made by the service had been immediately
apparent, with around 10,000 more green organics bins
per month being presented at the kerbside than normal,
and some 170 tonnes per month of additional valuable
material being diverted from landfill.
Jeffries Environmental, which manages the waste,
said the service had been very well received and was
operating smoothly, with many residents enthusiastic
about the introduction of the kitchen organics basket
saying that it had allowed them to feel like they were
contributing to all aspects of household recycling.
The BioBasket scheme is just one of the many ways
Council goes about helping residents to create a
healthy, sustainable life. Another is the OPAL program,
aimed at helping mums, dads and families to eat well
and be active.
Port Adelaide Enfield Council is among the first of
20 councils to be included in a state-wide move to
improve the health of young South Australians.
The major focus for OPAL in 2010-11 was consulting
with community stakeholders and gathering information
about the community in order to identify issues, needs,
gaps and opportunities for action.
These will include family activities in local parks,
informal sport and recreation programs for youth,
gardening, cooking and label reading workshops,
‘have a go sports’ days, bike safety and maintenance
for kids and support for community and school gardens.
Sustainable living is ‘in the bag’
8
A Unique,
Healthy &
Sustainable
Environment