Whanganui District Council collects 400 households’ food scraps, launching kerbside recycling in July

For the first time 400 households around Whanganui are getting food scraps collected by Whanganui District Council for composting.

The 12-week trial is the first step in the council’s plan to introduce a food scrap collection across all urban households by July 2025.

The council is launching a kerbside recycling service in July this year.

Those households picked for the trial will be given green bins to dispose of their food scraps in, and to put out for collection.

The food scraps will be taken to a local processing business — Easy Earth — which will turn them into compost.

By processing the food waste in a controlled environment with plenty of oxygen it will significantly reduce the amount of methane produced, compared to a low oxygen environment such as a landfill.

Each year New Zealand produces more than 100,000 tonnes of food waste.

The New Zealand Government has indicated that food scraps collection services are likely to become mandatory for councils by 2030.

Community property and places general manager Sarah O’Hagan said the council was looking to find out how much food waste participants produce, and whether they’re aware of the impact food scraps being sent to the landfill has on the environment.

“The decision to introduce the service is due to food waste being the most significant source of greenhouse emissions from our landfills.

“Diverting food waste from landfills is arguably the most important thing we can do to mitigate climate change in our waste sector.”

The total cost for the trial is approximately $40,000 and will be funded by the Ministry for the Environment.