FAQs

Many households are already diverting food scraps to their green bin or compost at home. Thank you to those of you that have already made this change.

However, the results of the 2019 kerbside bin audit found that food waste still makes up half of all household waste. That equates to approximately 2.7kg per household per week.

These figures show that food waste in the landfill bin is still too high and we all have a part to play in reducing what we send to landfill.

One significant step is making it easier for households to separate more food waste from the weekly general waste bin.

This rollout is made possible thanks to generous shared funding from Green Industries SA (GISA) and Council. GISA’s Kerbside Performance Plus Food Organics Incentives Program assists councils to implement sustainable and efficient food organics recycling systems.

Anything that grows can go in your caddy. For example, feed your kitchen caddy fruit and vegetable peelings, cheese, bread, egg shells or coffee grounds. Your starter kit will come with a list showing what can go into your kitchen caddy; you may be surprised.

Thank you for leading the way and embracing the kitchen caddy system. If you don’t need a second kitchen caddy, you are welcome to gift it to a friend or family member. Or drop it off to one of our libraries or community centres, or the Unley Civic Centre for redistribution to new residents.

That’s okay; we’ll gladly take it off your hands if you can drop it off to any Council facility as mentioned above.

The kitchen caddies are made from 100% recycled content and made right here in South Australia.

Ventilated caddies reduce unpleasant odour and allow food scraps to dry through evaporation, reducing weight and subsequent organics processing costs. Ventilated caddies reduce moisture build up and are clean and easy to use.

Your caddy starter kit comes with 150 compostable liners made to Australian Standards AS 4736. Compostable liners are the ONLY liners you should use to capture food waste. Do not use degradable or biodegradable bags; they are still plastic and do not break down into organic materials.

Store your liners in a cool dry place.

Your roll of 150 liners is calculated to provide you 2 to 3 liners per week, for 12 months. Following the 12-month period, Council aims to supply residents with replacement rolls of 75 liners. But if you need more, bags will be available at low cost from the Unley Civic Centre, community centres or libraries.

As part of the State’s policy toward banning single-use plastic products, our major supermarkets may soon provide compostable food produce bags. We encourage you to access and reuse these bags for lining your caddy.

Alternatively, some people choose to line their caddy with newspaper or paper towel. When full, scrunch up and place both the scraps and paper inside your green bin.

Compostable liners will help reduce smells coming from your green bin. Tying off your compostable liner before dropping into your green organics bin, and mixing with vegetation, lawn clippings or shredded paper, will reduce the likelihood of odours and flies.

Most unit complexes share their green organics bins. Please ensure someone at your complex takes responsibility to take the bin out for fortnightly collection.

SOLO collects and delivers organic material from your green bin to a composting facility in Adelaide. This is where it is commercially processed (by high temperature treatment) and made into nutrient rich organic soils, compost and mulch. These products are used around our homes, our farms, vineyards and greenhouses.