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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-21 Daily Xml
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FOOD WASTE

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (14:56): All finished? Shall I start?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Lest I bear the brunt of the Hon. Rob Lucas's somewhat ironic barbs, I will just wait to make sure you are all finished.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Maher, are you seeking leave?

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister inform the chamber about how the government is assisting local government authorities—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I will start again, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Please.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: How come he sought leave?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: If I was making an explanation, I probably would seek leave, under standing orders—quite right. My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister inform the chamber about how the government is assisting local government authorities to dispose of food waste and reduce rubbish going into landfill?

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Yeah, cutting Zero Waste.

The PRESIDENT: There will be a few cuts in here in a minute.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and his ongoing interest in these areas. I am pleased to advise that the government of South Australia has opened a new round of applications for the Kerbside Performance Plus (Food Organics) Incentive scheme. In 2010 the state government provided $6.1 million over four years to provide food waste recycling to South Australian households. This was initiated because the recycling of other recoverable materials is now so widespread and effective that the natural progression is to reduce waste going to landfill, whilst to support the uptake of food waste recycling by councils.

Currently, I am advised, 111,000 metropolitan and regional householders are recycling their kitchen scraps as part of a structured recycling program subsidised by the government. This next round of funding, about $3 million over the next two years, will encourage more people to send their food scraps to compost, thanks to the government incentives of up to around $19 or $20 per household. This has almost doubled from the previous incentive, which was capped at $10 per household, I am advised.

A pilot study in 2010 investigated food waste recycling methods across 17,000 householders and found that there was significant difference in the performance and effectiveness of the two popular methods of recycling food waste, one being unlined caddies or bins and the other a lined and ventilated system using compostable cornstarch liner bags.

The audit demonstrated that lined and ventilated systems resulted in significantly higher participation rates and produced waste yields of some 300 per cent higher than the alternative unlined option. Therefore, to promote the use of more effective methods this funding round has been structured to pay more to those councils that utilise higher performance systems or approaches like lined cornstarch bags.

Staff from my department are also on hand to assist councils with the development of education materials to be provided to households about the recycling of waste. They can provide training to council staff where needed. This is a wonderful example of how recycling in this state keeps getting better and better. History has shown that by introducing an effective food waste system councils can achieve a waste diversion from landfill rate of up to 70 per cent. Applications are open until Friday 1 March and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the councils who will take up this offer for funding and in turn reduce their waste going to landfill.

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