Food and Garden Organic Waste Management in Australia: Co-Benefits for Regional Communities and Local Government

Landfilling organic waste generates greenhouse gases and contributes to climate change. While the management of organic waste has been identified by all tiers of Australian government as paramount to meeting net zero emissions targets, diversion of domestic organic waste from landfill is primarily the responsibility of local government. This review of academic and grey literature considers developments in food organics and garden organics collections in Australia and the implications for regional communities. It reviews source-separated collections and the treatment of organic waste administered by regional local governments and identifies there is a dearth of information in this area. Key knowledge gaps emerging from the study include: (1) There is a disconnect between the various state governments’ policies, strategies, and regulation of organics diversion and action on mandating or supporting kerbside collections; (2) there is insufficient funding and subsidy to encourage councils to implement collection systems, and (3) the community has limited understanding of the cost and environmental burden of waste, and subsequently there is no willingness to pay for collection systems. This paper outlines how these issues contribute to individual regional councils deferring kerbside organic waste collection systems and offers recommendations that could enable the achievement of more ideal diversion targets that are relevant to, and affordable for, their local communities.