You can help keep food waste out of landfill and make your garden happy at the same time by using your green bins or setting up a compost bin.
How to put food waste to good use
Did you know that food waste and other compostable items aren't meant to go in your blue bin?
In the City of Mitcham, you have two options for recycling your food waste:
- Recycle food waste with your garden organics waste using your green bin and kitchen caddy
- Set up a compost bin or worm farm
Recycling food waste using your green bin
You can use the green bin to recycle your food waste
- Put your loose food waste into your green bin (not in a plastic bag)
- Wrap your food waste in newspaper, and then put them into your green bin
- Use compostable bags and a kitchen caddy (more on caddies below), and then put the bags into your green bin
Green bins are collected every fortnight. You can download the My Local Services app to get a friendly reminder about which bins to put out each week. You can also download the 2024 waste and recycling collection calendar.
What types of food waste you can put in your green bin:
Along with your garden organics waste, all food waste and compostable products can go into the green bin, including:
- Food scraps and peels
- Cake and bread crusts
- Fruit and vegetables
- Coffee grounds
- Tea leaves and some tea bags (non-plastic only)
- Meat scraps, bones and seafood (raw and cooked)
- Egg and oyster shells
- Cheese and yoghurt
- Leftover takeaway foods (no plastic containers)
- Hand towel/paper towel
- Toilet paper rolls
- Pizza boxes
- Sticky notes
- Small pieces of paper and cardboard
- Shredded paper
- Paper/cardboard food packaging
- Egg cartons
- Moulded cardboard packaging
- Pencil shavings
- Nail clippings
- Hair
- Pet poo
Where to get a kitchen caddy and compostable bags
Free kitchen caddies and compostable bags were delivered to households and businesses in April and May 2023. If you didn't receive one you can pick up your free kitchen caddy and roll of 75 compostable bags. Just bring in your proof of residence.
You can also pick up one additional free roll of 75 compostable bags anytime between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. Again you will need to bring your proof of residence.
We also sell compostable bags and kitchen caddies at a discounted price.
Kitchen caddies and compostable bags are available from:
- City of Mitcham Civic Centre, 131 Belair Road, Torrens Park
- Mitcham Memorial Library, 154 Belair Road, Hawthorn
- Blackwood Library, 2 Young Street, Blackwood
Compostable bags can also be purchased from most major supermarkets, hardware stores and eco stores. Foodland Pasadena and all Woolworths stores now provide compostable produce bags in the fruit and vegetable section. These are perfect to use in your kitchen caddy.
You should only use certified compostable bags to recycle your food waste. Compostable bags are made of 100% compostable materials that decompose during the composting process, while biodegradable bags break down, but only into smaller pieces of plastic. Look for the seedling logo and AS 4736.
How to use a kitchen caddy
- Line the caddy with a compostable bag or newspaper
- Place all your food waste and other compostable items in the caddy
- After two to three days, or once full, tie the bag and place it into your green bin
Tips for keeping your kitchen caddy clean and hygienic
Here are some helpful hints to reduce smells and possible spillages in your caddy:
- In hot weather, food waste decomposes quicker, so empty your caddy more often
- Add paper products such as paper towel, tissues, and egg cartons to soak up some of the moisture from your food waste
- Put the caddy on a plate to prevent spillages
- Make sure you let hot food cool down before putting it in your caddy
- Keep meat and seafood frozen until your bin collection day
- Wrap food waste in newspaper
- Mix food waste in with garden clippings
- Carry the whole caddy outside to empty — not just the bag — to avoid spillages
Free kitchen caddy trial!
The City of Mitcham, with funding support from a Green Industries SA Food Waste Incentive Grant, undertook a free kitchen caddy trial to reduce food waste going to landfill.
In 2018, we supplied free kitchen caddies, compostable bags and education materials to 5,500 households in St Marys, Clapham, Panorama, Pasadena and Eden Hills. Watch this space for the results.
How to set up a compost bin or worm farm
What is compost?
Composting is a natural process where organic material (food and garden waste) is broken down by microorganisms over a period of time. The final product is referred to as humus, and is dark in colour, crumbly and has a pleasant earthy-smell.
The benefits of composting
Composting is an easy, inexpensive and efficient way of recycling in your own backyard and has loads of benefits, including:
- Creating healthy gardens by adding valuable nutrients, enhancing the water-holding capacity of soil and reducing water loss through evaporation
- Reducing plant stress during summer
- Reducing soil erosion
- Reducing the amount of organic waste going to landfill and the related greenhouse gases
How to use compost
It can take between six weeks and six months for the compost to be ready for use. It all depends on the mix of organic materials and how well the compost process is working. The compost is ready to use when all materials added are unrecognisable and it resembles a deep brown, rich, and sweet smelling soil. Use your compost to feed your plants, spread over your lawn, act as a soil conditioner and be a starter for a new compost heap.
You can put these in your compost bin:
- Vegetable and fruit scraps
- Fallen leaves and fruit
- Tea leaves and tea bags
- Coffee grounds
- Vacuum cleaner dust
- Dead flowers
- Soft stems of plants
- Egg shells
- Old newspapers (shredded)
- Lawn clippings
- Twigs and straw
- Sawdust and small amounts of wood ash or lime
- Tissues
Don’t put these in your compost bin:
- Meat, fish and dairy products (they attract rats and vermin and can smell)
- Large branches (they won’t break down)
- Timber products treated with chemicals
- Magazines
- Diseased plants
- Weeds with bulbs or underground storage parts (active compost will destroy most weed seeds)
- Large amounts of bread or cake (they also attract vermin)
- Plastics
- Bones
- Cat and dog droppings
Some of these items can go in your green kerbside bin and turned into mulch by a commercial composter.
For more info, please contact us on 1300 133 466.
How to compost
The composting process needs air + ingredients + microorganisms + time
Place your compost in a well-drained, shady position. There are loads of different types of compost units that you can use at home, but whatever bin you choose, it’s important to operate it aerobically (that means with the help of oxygen) to stop bad smells. We recommend:
- Plastic bins with ventilation holes or slits in the side
- Metal drums with holes in the side and the base removed
- Metal or plastic rotating drums (tumblers) on a stand
- Enclosures made from timber, bricks or chicken wire
- Open heap (should be covered with a plastic sheet or Hessian material)
Take some time to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each method, as some designs might attract unwanted animals and vermin or may not be a good choice for small properties.
If you live in a unit or courtyard blocks, worm farms are a great alternative to backyard composting, as they can turn your kitchen scraps, small garden waste and even dog poo into fertiliser, which is called castings. You can then put the worm castings onto pot plants and garden beds, and into potting mix as a soil conditioner.
You can buy compost units and worm farms at most hardware stores and nurseries.
Your compost needs a mixture of nitrogen-rich (green) materials such as fruit and vegetable peelings, fresh grass clippings, weeds and manure and nitrogen-poor (brown) materials such as dry leaves, woody twigs, paper, straw and wood ash. You can also add some completed compost or rich soil to your ingredient list, as this will provide the microorganisms that help break down the compost ingredients and turn them into a rich, soil-like compost.
To build the compost, start with a thick layer of coarse material, such as twigs or mulch. Then follow with a thin layer of food scraps; then a layer of mature grass clippings; then a layer of manure, and repeat. Make sure you add water to the heap after each layer.
To help the composting process, you should:
- Regularly mix and turn your compost material to allow air penetration
- Keep the compost moist, but not too wet
- Add greens and browns as required, but keep layers thin
- Place the compost unit in a well drained position, partially shaded from the sun
- Tear or break up your ingredients into small pieces before adding them to the unit
Compost is produced from the breakdown of natural materials and can contain loads of different living organisms, such as bacteria and fungi. On rare occasions, these organisms can cause illness and allergies in humans, so it’s important to be careful when composting:
- Wash your hands after handling compost or soil materials
- Protect broken skin by wearing gloves
- Keep the compost pile moist to stop fungal spores or bacteria becoming airborne
- Avoid inhaling dry compost
- If you suffer from illness or allergies, wear a face mask
Rats and mice love the warmth generated by the compost pile, and can sniff out food scraps from a mile away. To keep rats and mice away from your pile, make sure you cover all kitchen scraps with a layer of soil. If your compost unit has a lid, make sure that it can close securely.
Most of the flies around a compost heap are small vinegar flies, which are harmless. If the flies around your compost are houseflies or blowflies, then they’re most likely being attracted by meat, dairy foods and manure. Again, avoid adding these materials and cover any other food scraps with a layer of soil, grass or leaves.
Ants can be attracted to compost units if the pile is too dry, not hot enough in the middle or has kitchen scraps too close to the surface. Make sure that your compost pile has the correct mix of greens and browns to ensure high temperatures during decomposition and add the required amount of water so that your pile is moist but not wet (like a damp “squeezed out” sponge).
If your compost is generating unpleasant odours it may be because your pile is too wet or is not getting enough oxygen. To improve aeration, turn and mix your pile fortnightly. If your pile is too wet you will need to add more nitrogen-poor materials to the mixture and improve drainage.
For more info, give us a call on 1300 133 466.