IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p9901-d1176524.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Christine Blanchard

    (Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia)

  • Peter Harris

    (Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia)

  • Celmara Pocock

    (Centre for Heritage and Culture, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia)

  • Bernadette K. McCabe

    (Centre for Agricultural Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Blanchard & Peter Harris & Celmara Pocock & Bernadette K. McCabe, 2023. "Food and Garden Organic Waste Management in Australia: Co-Benefits for Regional Communities and Local Government," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:9901-:d:1176524
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/9901/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/9901/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Landells & Anjum Naweed & David H. Pearson & Gamithri G. Karunasena & Samuel Oakden, 2022. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Using Post-Kerbside Organics Treatment Systems to Engage Australian Communities with Pro-Environmental Household Food Waste Behaviours," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Emily Keegan & Jessica K. Breadsell, 2021. "Food Waste and Social Practices in Australian Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-35, March.
    3. Chamizo-Gonzalez, Julián & Cano-Montero, Elisa Isabel & Muñoz-Colomina, Clara Isabel, 2016. "Municipal Solid Waste Management services and its funding in Spain," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 65-72.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claudia Giordano & Silvio Franco, 2021. "Household Food Waste from an International Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-9, May.
    2. Mark Hansley Chua & Yung Yau, 2022. "Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Approach for Determining the Effects of the Waste Charging Scheme on Household Food Waste Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Linda Brennan & Caroline Francis & Eva L. Jenkins & Bruno Schivinski & Michaela Jackson & Eloise Florence & Lukas Parker & Sophie Langley & Simon Lockrey & Karli Verghese & Nhat Tram Phan-Le & Alliste, 2023. "Consumer Perceptions of Food Packaging in Its Role in Fighting Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Esther Landells & Anjum Naweed & David H. Pearson & Gamithri G. Karunasena & Samuel Oakden, 2022. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Using Post-Kerbside Organics Treatment Systems to Engage Australian Communities with Pro-Environmental Household Food Waste Behaviours," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Mirza Marvel Cequea & Jessika Milagros Vásquez Neyra & Valentina Gomes Haensel Schmitt & Marcos Ferasso, 2021. "Household Food Consumption and Wastage during the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: A Comparison between Peru and Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-22, July.
    6. Stephanie Marwood & Noreen Byrne & Olive McCarthy & Ciara Heavin & Peter Barlow, 2023. "Examining the Relationship between Consumers’ Food-Related Actions, Wider Pro-Environmental Behaviours, and Food Waste Frequency: A Case Study of the More Conscious Consumer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-30, February.
    7. Hani A. Abu-Qdais & Nawras Shatnawi & Rami Al-Shahrabi, 2023. "Modeling the Impact of Fees and Circular Economy Options on the Financial Sustainability of the Solid Waste Management System in Jordan," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Verma, Shivpal & Dregulo, Andrei Mikhailovich & Kumar, Vinay & Bhargava, Preeti Chaturvedi & Khan, Nawaz & Singh, Anuradha & Sun, Xinwei & Sindhu, Raveendran & Binod, Parameswaran & Zhang, Zengqiang &, 2023. "Reaction engineering during biomass gasification and conversion to energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:9901-:d:1176524. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.