Council’s free compost giveaway day was a great success, with more than 160 vehicles turning out on Saturday.
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On offer was some top quality compost sourced from the newly implemented green lidded organic bins.
Almost 101 tonnes of Biomix compost was distributed to the community, including 15 tonnes to Deniliquin High School for their farm project.
Another 20 bags were filled by the Osborne family for delivery to Southern Cross Care - Orana.
Wait times were kept to a minimum with council staff directing traffic and saleyards manager Greg White doing a superb job on the bobcat, expertly filling up utes and trailers as they pulled up.
Residents were very enthusiastic about the event, with one person describing the compost as “black gold” and another saying “now I understand why it's so important to not contaminate the green bin”.
The state mandated three-bin system - red for general waste, yellow for recycling and green for food organics and green waste - was introduced in the Edward River region on July 1 this year.
The new system is predicted to halve the waste going to landfill, with the remainder either recycled or processed into compost for use on farms or parklands.
Under the new system, recyclable waste will be sent to a material recovery facility (MRF) operated by Veolia in Echuca.
The waste runs through a series of manual and mechanical sorting stations where the different waste streams such as plastic (multiple types), paper, aluminium, steel, cardboard and glass are separated.
After garden waste and food organics have been collected, they are taken to Biomix at Stanhope and turned into soil or fertiliser to be used on farms and to keep parklands green.
The next ‘freebie’ being offered by Edward River Council to the community is free waste disposal days at the Deniliquin landfill next weekend.
It will be held both Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, and available to all Edward River Council residents.
This is for residential properties only and does not extend to tyres, commercial waste, construction and demolition waste.
For more information about waste sorting practices, contact project manager Anna Kelly on 5898 3000 or go to www.halvewaste.com.au.