Weekly Green Organics Trial

The City of Burnside is trialling a weekly green organics bin collection. So far, the trial has been a resounding success. Residents have embraced the opportunity to use their green organics bins for food scraps and organic waste. This has led to:

• A significant reduction in landfill waste
• Improved environmental sustainability
• Cost savings for Council

It's a win for the community and the environment.

Where is the trial?

• Beulah Park and the northern half of Kensington Gardens (commenced September 2024).
• The Monday bin collection area (commencing September 2025, see map below).
• Residents and businesses in the expanded trial area will receive detailed information in August 2025.

Key points

• The trial has been an outstanding success, with households embracing green bins for food scraps and organic waste.
• Weekly green bin collection has significantly reduced landfill waste.
• In the trial area, green bins are collected weekly and red bins fortnightly.
• Most households do not need weekly red landfill bin collection, as their bins are half full or less.
• Collecting organics weekly saves Council money and has environmental benefits.
• All food scraps and organic waste should go in the green bin.

Trial overview

Council’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy includes a commitment to improve the kerbside organics service. To achieve this, Council and East Waste commenced a trial of weekly green organics bin collection from September 2024.

The trial has achieved impressive outcomes, with strong community participation and a noticeable increase in food and organic waste being diverted from landfill. Similar trials conducted by other councils across South Australia and interstate have also shown strong support and significant reductions in landfill waste, reinforcing the value of this initiative.

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Questions?

If you have any questions or feedback about the weekly green organics trial, please contact Council on 8366 4200, email burnside@burnside.sa.gov.au, or use the form at the bottom of this webpage to request a call back.

Collection schedule

Trial area

Trial collection calendar

Click here to download the collection calendar(PDF, 127KB).

Results so far

The trial has demonstrated the benefits of weekly organic collection. One common metric used to assess management of waste is diversion from landfill. Materials that are recycled or composted are diverted from landfill. The diversion rate in Burnside is typically 61 per cent. During the trial, the community has achieved a much-improved average diversion rate of 76 per cent. This means that a lot less waste is going to landfill. This shows that providing a weekly green organics bin collection increases the volumes of food scraps going into the correct bin, the green bin. 

The graph below shows the diversion rate in Burnside from the last three financial years and then the increase of materials being diverted in the trial area since weekly organics collection began.

Why trial?

The trial helps Council understand how weekly organics would work across the city. It also allows us to track landfill and organics tonnages to evaluate the financial and environmental benefits, supporting well-informed decisions for future waste services. 

This trial is being conducted because there are numerous benefits to weekly green organics collection:

• Bin collection should meet the needs of most households. Most household waste is organic waste from the kitchen and the garden. We also know that most household’s landfill bins do not need to be collected weekly because they are half full or less.
• Reduces landfill volumes. More food scraps going into the green organics bin means less is wasted in landfill.
• Financial savings. It’s five times cheaper to compost organic material such as food scraps rather than sending it to landfill. Sending less material to landfill keeps the pressure off Council rates.
• Ease of use. Households will have their organics collected weekly, so do not need to worry about smell or waiting another week for collection.
• Improves environmental sustainability. The contents of the green organics bin are turned into valuable compost, rather than being wasted in landfill. When food scraps is composted, it breaks down quickly. In contrast, when food scraps goes to landfill, it breaks down slowly and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
• Creates local jobs. The composting industry creates and supports more jobs than landfill sites.

What goes in the green organics bin?

The green organics bin is for organic material that can be commercially composted. This includes food scraps such as fruit, vegetables, meat, bones, compostable takeaway packaging and garden organics such as leaves, branches and lawn clippings.

If you are not sure what goes in each bin visit the Which Bin website at: whichbin.com.au

FAQs

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are provided below.

Business FAQs