We’re putting your food and garden waste to good use! Do you know what happens to your food and garden waste after you’ve put it in your green bin? It gets turned into compost!

Your food and garden waste is taken to the Veolia composting facility just north of Melbourne. It is then sorted and processed, creating nutrient rich compost.  This compost is used by Victorian farmers and community gardens across Merri-bek to grow our food.

Local community gardens like Pentridge Community Garden in Coburg and Mulberry Community Garden in Glenroy are a vital asset to our community.

Erin is a member of Mulberry Community Garden. “We’re grateful for all food and garden organic waste for the garden. It complements the compost we make on site,“ she says.

Katya, a member from Pentridge Community Garden agrees: “Council compost helps us grow vegetables and renew the soil, so we get the best productivity from the garden.”

Andrew the founder of Pentridge Community Garden loves working in the community garden and growing produce. “We just like to share it with the community, because that’s what it’s all about!”.

Unfortunately, some residents put their food and garden waste into a plastic or compostable bag before placing it in the green bin. Plastic bags and other rubbish can contaminate our food and garden waste. It can also cause major problems at Veolia’s processing facility and lowers the quality of the compost produced.  

Please place food scraps and garden waste into your green bin loose. If you would like to wrap them, before placing in your bin, you can use newspaper or paper towel. This will make sure our local and Victorian farmers have access to the best quality compost to grow food for us to eat.