Moyne Shire waste monitoring

The first step of the investigation will be held in February with Moyne Shire Council staff checking the contents of landfill and food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bins at residences in Port Fairy and Mortlake.

Moyne Shire waste management staff will visually inspect bins at 200 houses in both towns to monitor the household waste disposal habits of ratepayers.

Small kitchen-caddy bins were issued by the council last year to encourage people to put their food scraps into these and then empty them into the FOGO bins.

This was aimed to reduce the volume of waste going into general waste bins and as a result, landfill.

Moyne Shire waste management officer Sam Rudolph said waste figures since the introduction of the kitchen-caddy bins have shown a positive trend.

“It looks like our landfill volume is down a little which is really positive,” Mr Rudolph said.

“It tells us people are putting their food scraps in the FOGO bins instead of general rubbish.

“That is our overall aim, obviously the less waste we have going to landfill, the better it is for the environment. 

“The other thing is it is good financially, waste that can be composted costs us half as much as sending it to landfill.”

Mr Rudolph said the rubbish inspections in Port Fairy and Mortlake will not be intrusive.

He said council staff will visually inspect, with maybe a stick used to move rubbish around, but there would be no handling of waste in the bins.

He said council has chosen the properties to be inspected and residents will receive a letter in the post informing them of their inclusion.

All households that take part ion the investigation will receive a small prize, with households that show improvements receiving a larger prize.

A major prize will be awarded to one household in Port Fairy and one household in Mortlake which are  deemed to be the best FOGO recyclers. ​

The second stage of the waste investigation will take place in April.