As the trial used such a novel approach, the council consulted extensively with the participating community, also maintaining a visible presence and high level of communication during the trial period. Council collaborated with a key local community group to ensure the roll-out process was successful, provided trial updates at the community group’s monthly meetings and published news and educational articles in the local newsletter. In addition, the council set up a local shop-front in the local community hall which initially ran three times per week and later twice per week. Council staff provided this forum to distribute additional supplies of compostable bags, explain the process and address any questions or concerns. Council staff also undertook home visits to assist elderly residents and trouble-shoot difficult problems. Concerns pests and odour from the organics bins were addressed on a case-by-case basis and in general were resolved through behavioural changes such as freezing seafood scraps until collection day and layering organics with newspaper and cardboard in the bin. Overall the system was extremely well accepted by both local residents and the businesses involved, including restaurants and other food outlets, with 85% of survey respondents in favour of the trial system and an additional 5% finding there was little difference to the existing system. the completion of the ‘wet and dry’ collection trial, Shoalhaven City Council has so far not proceeded with full implementation of a kerbside collection service for food and garden organics. This was largely due to the reluctance of private sector MRF operators to commit to operating the council’s recycling facilities given the perceived risks associated with the novel collection system for dry waste. Lessons Learnt: The trial demonstrated the potential for additional resource recovery using existing collection infrastructure. In essence, the trial design completely removed the ‘garbage’ bin, leaving two types of recycling bin in its place, a system that was intended to simultaneously incorporate low-technology resource recovery solutions and facilitate sustainable behaviour change by both residents and businesses.
evaluation methods were chosen to measure the effectiveness and appropriateness at each stage. Because the desired outcomes had been clearly identified at the start of the project, the team found developing the comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan was very straightforward. Some elements of the ‘Outcomes Hierarchy’ for the project are included in the table on the next page. Lessons Learnt: Detailed forward planning using the ‘Outcomes Hierarchy’ framework allowed the team to monitor and revise activities along the way. The results have supported decision-making for long-term waste management in the Sydney Eastern Suburbs region, and the effectiveness of this program has also led to implementation of the program in other council areas of NSW. Practical workshop being conducted with trial participants (Waverly, Randwick and Woollahra Councils) Further information: ‘Compost Revolution’ Outcomes Hierarchy (abridged version) Project stage Desired outcomes Evaluation Methods Immediate Engage at 300 households to participate and start home compost in the trial participation rates (about 600 households) drop-out rates less than 10% Workshop and event participation rates Develop education resources and workshops to meet the needs of participants enquiries & feedback Website visitors and downloads Number of resources distributed at events Intermediate Improve participant skills and knowledge in composting Trial participant surveys during and after program Workshop feedback surveys Comparison with non-participants Raise participant awareness of behaviour changes that lead to reduced food waste ‘Food waste tallies’ recorded by participants Results of Food Diary study Website visitors and downloads Develop a model program to increase home composting rate in region Online quiz results News articles and advertisements published Ultimate Reduce organic waste disposed to landfill Analysis of compositional bin audits before, during and after the trial Reduce household production of food waste Analysis of food waste composting tally system Analysis of ‘Food Diary’ study Reduce greenhouse emissions from waste Economic and environmental modelling analysis undertaken after trial completion
however a cost comparison of the methods had not been completed at the time of writing. Council staff undertaking training on composting The (former) Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW contributed $30,000 to the project, while REROC Waste Forum committed the remainder of funds. Although analysis of final results has not yet been reported, the trial was budgeted at $110 per household to implement the main elements such as collection, processing and education (but excluding research, evaluation, and consultancy fees). Although the councils’ estimated current cost of sending organic waste to landfill is $44 per household, the cost per household of full implementation would be considerably lower and there is an option to recoup some cost through the sale of compost. The CSU project indicated council could offset costs by up to $30 per tonne of compost produced. Lessons Learnt: The pilot trial in the REROC region suggests recycling of organics collected at kerbside can result in high recovery rates and is likely to be viable even for the small communities of the member councils. Although the financial analysis is yet to be reported, the approach was well accepted by the communities and produced a high quality compost product.