Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Green Organics Contamination Framework to Minimise Contamination Presented by Steven Marshall

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Fact One: The viability of the recycled organics sector in SA is extremely vulnerable at the moment. Increasing costs of site compliance, and reducing incoming volume is placing huge pressure on the sector – an ultimately on those using the service.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Fact Two: We need to eliminate contamination in the municipally collected green organics collection in metropolitan Adelaide.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Fact Three: We need the help of the households, councils and collection companies to eliminate contamination in SA.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Overview of Presentation Overview of what has been done by the Compost Industry to deal with the contamination issue. Propose a model of what can be done by us all working together to solve this issue and create sustainable resource recovery for SA.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Overview of work done to date Formation of Contamination Taskforce – Dec 04. Compost SA presents to LGA – Jun 05. LGA committed resources to project. LGA provided a research grant.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Interface with Collection Companies It is important for us to interface with collection companies. They are our front line and crucial in the improvement program. We have had good support from collection companies – especially East Waste. Already we have had some training of drivers – but more needs to be done in a co-ordinated effort.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Interface with Community ZWSA has dedicated some resources to implement a high quality public message highlighting the issues of contamination.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Response – Part 1 The first part of the proposed solution is to implement a common contamination rating metric so that we can track the reduction in contamination. This one system would be common between processors, councils and collection companies.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Response – Part 2 The second part of the proposed solution is to implement a common bin ‘what’s in – what’s out’ sticker for SA. A simple sticker showing in words and images needs to be implemented asap. We believe that we will get an immediate reduction in contamination by clearly defining what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Most people want to do the ‘right thing’ – but many people remain unsure of what is acceptable.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Response – Part 3 The final part of the proposed solution is to implement a common approach to dealing with persistent ‘contaminators’. We have reviewed some very successful programs interstate which have been effective at informing and warning ‘contaminators’. No final configuration is proposed today – but we hope to work with individual councils to implement a system similar to the ‘three strikes – you’re out’ campaign used in some councils in NSW.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Framework – INFORMING The first component of the framework is to inform the household of their contamination. This would most likely be done at the point of collection with a simple sticker and maybe a ‘pack’ to reinforce ‘what’s in and what’s out’. The offending household details would be tracked for future reference.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Framework – WARNING If the household re-offends it will be issued with a warning notice stipulating that the service will be removed if contamination persists. This notice would again contain some information on why we need to keep our green organics collection free from contamination.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Proposed Framework – WITHDRAWAL If the household continues to contaminate the green organics collection then the service will be removed.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Vision We have a vision to improve the viability of the recycled organics sector in SA. We must reduce contamination in our green organics to ensure this viability and to keep costs to councils from rising. We need to work together with councils and collection companies. We hope to meet with councils individually in the near future to determine how we can work together.

Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 COMPOST SA “Return it to the Earth” Thank You