Have you ever thought about what happens to all the orange peels, tomatoes, and other garden waste items you throw out to all Australians out there?
No, it does not biodegrade in your backyard!
Table of Contents
Although they are considered biodegradable, green waste is put through certain steps before it vanishes. We’ve put together this article, so you can understand how all the green waste you discard are managed. However, what is green waste?
What is green waste?
Green waste, as the name suggests, includes any organic waste that can be composted. It includes cut flowers, grass cuttings, fallen fruits, and any other garden waste. So, are the waste you discard in your kitchen included in this?
No. Only the garden waste you discard as a result of growing trees, cleaning up lawns, etc., are included in this. It is important to discard them responsibly to avoid clutter. This is the reason you need to educate yourself about what is included in the green waste category, according to your garbage collection service, and what is not.
Why dispose of green waste?
Green waste is biodegradable. If it is not disposed of, it will degrade and releases gases into the atmosphere. About 50% of total garbage from Australian households is organic, which means it is degradable. Although degradable, green waste has its fair set of issues when left just like that.
Clogs drainage
Improper dumping of green waste can clog the drains. This causes unwanted plants to grow that could be invasive. It also affects the quality of water if it gets mixed in any drinking water pipes.
Can cause forest fires
If it is not disposed of in the right way, it can dry up and become fuel for forest fires. Yes. This is a completely possible outcome.
Unsanitised Environment
The green waste you throw out acts as a breeding ground for pests and insects. It also will let out a foul smell that can affect the environment.
Releases harmful gases
It is biodegradable and gets acted on by certain microorganisms that cause the waste to degrade. This releases harmful gases into the environment that can affect your health.
How to dispose of green waste in Sydney?
If you’ve lived in Sydney, you should know by now how green waste is becoming a huge problem. Residents have bigger lawns in Australia because of the suitable climate, and this has increased the amount of green waste we are producing every year. Green waste should be repurposed by us or disposed of properly to be recycled.
Discarding green waste
You must segregate everything in order. You can divide it into three piles and put all your green waste in one pile, after which, take all your green waste to the nearest waste disposal bin.
Segregation waste
The city of Sydney has three coloured bins – red, yellow, and green that the council provides for free, or you can get your skip bin from a local business. The green waste belongs in one of those skips. You’ve guessed it right. Green waste belongs in the green lid bin.
Waste collection service
Once you’ve disposed of the waste, call up your local rubbish removal service. You can get more information on this from the City of Sydney’s website. The bin won’t be removed if you mix up your waste, if the lid is not closed or if there is wasted lying on the outside.
Otherwise, there are companies in Sydney that will charge you a bit if you want to dump it in their landfills. It is expensive and not the best method to discard waste unless you are doing something suspicious.
The last way is to hire a professional rubbish removal company that has tied up with a recycling or repurposing facility that converts your green waste into manure.
What does not belong in the green lid bin?
In order to dispose of this, you need to know what qualifies as green waste and what does not. It includes all your organic garden waste such as twigs, leaves, grass clipping. Although organic, you cannot dispose of your food waste in this bin. What else does not belong in this bin?
- Soil, rock, or building materials
- Plant pot or garden equipment
- Compostable nappies
- Tree stumps and branches above 10cm
- Compostable packaging and containers
The city of Sydney’s local government portal allows you to discard your green waste for free. All you have to do is fill an online form that will get you a new bin home. If you already have a bin but that if it is filled up, then you can replace that with a new bin.
How can you reduce green waste?
According to the National Waste Report of Australia, an Australian household discards about 2.7 million tonnes of waste a year. This is a huge number. However, green waste can be reduced, 100% reused or recycled.
Reduce your natural lawn size
Natural lawns are pretty, but grass can take up a lot of water. It also will require you to trim grass several times to maintain it. You can reduce the work for yourself and also save the environment at the same time by replacing it with artificial turf. You can also avoid any unnecessary weeds from growing.
Lawn care
If you still want to have a natural lawn, then you need to take care of it. You need to mow the grass and either discard it responsibly or recycle it. You should also keep it green and not let it dry up frequently.
Grass Cycling
You need not know rocket science to understand what grasscycling is. As the name suggests, it is not raking up all your grass clippings as you mow. This can not only save you from a backache but also can stop you from filling up your area’s landfill every time you decide to make your lawn look great.
Find your plant a new home
If your shrubs are blocking the way to a new plant you are trying to set up, instead of throwing them, you can find your shrubs a new home on a community site or a group. In some cases, you can even make a little bit of money from thrifting your plants. You will not only be able to get rid of your plants but also will reduce your green waste drastically.
Composting
If you enjoy gardening, another task you might enjoy is making compost. All you need to do is gather your green waste, add it to a trough along with soil and let it sit. You need to keep it moist and also turn it to provide aeration. After waiting for a while, your compost will be ready.
What can you include while composting?
- Lawn clippings
- Leaves
- Vegetables
- Coffee Bags
- Eggshells
What you shouldn’t include while composting
- Treated or painted wood
- Meat
- Diseased plant
- Dog or cat feces
Grow what you enjoy
You should consider growing what you enjoy. You can grow all the flowers that make you happy or a lawn full of high maintenance flowers that you don’t want or need. If you take this decision, you are making your lawn greener by reducing green waste.
Why Landfills is not a good option
47% of your green waste end up in landfills and are not recycled. This has a lot of impacts that are seriously harmful to your health, the environment, and also your neighbour’s.
Environmental impact
Although green waste is 100% biodegradable, discarding them improperly in landfills can have a lot of environmental problems. Green waste that is not recycled properly and dumped into landfills is compacted down and covered. As you learned in school, organic waste biodegrades when microorganisms act on it by an anaerobic mechanism.
Methane gas is released as a result of this. This gas is much more harmful than carbon dioxide and contributes in a much more dangerous way to global warming. It is also flammable, and if it increases in concentration can highly affect the city if caught on fire.
Health Impact
If you live next to a landfill, you might end up inhaling the methane gas that is released. Over time, this can cause health impacts such as nausea, vomiting, or have other health impacts. It also becomes the breeding ground for mosquitoes or other insects and pests.
Landfills can also generate different kinds of toxic elements called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. PAHs are harmful to the environment and also humans. It will affect your future kids’ health a few years down the road.
What happens to your green waste after collection?
The green waste that is collected from your homes by a collection service is sent to a facility. In this place, they segregate all the waste and remove anything other than the green waste you’ve forgotten in a pile. The waste is then shredded into smaller pieces. Until they are sent to recycling and repurposing facilities, they are kept moist and are turned regularly.
There are schemes by recycling centres in Sydney that allows you to buy back the organic material that was repurposed. This compost can be used not only for large scale agricultural fields but also for your mini home gardens.
Your council usually provides green lid bins to discard your waste for free. However, they have their own set of disadvantages. The green bins are smaller and get easily filled up. Once they are filled, ordering and getting a new one can take more time. You can also drain out of energy trying to drop your waste at the skip if you are living in a residential area.
Mobile Skips are there to save your day! In this world of fast-moving things, your Skip bins got to be mobile too. You can also get them delivered on the same day.
Why do Skip bins help in garbage collection?
Convenience
Skip bins make it easier not only for discarding the waste but also for the garbage collection service to neatly remove the discarded way from one place. They can also save you a lot of time as you don’t have to go around searching for a waste disposal facility or tow it by yourself.
Affordable
They are affordable, easier to move, and also are simpler to handle. You can either call up a collection van to come to you. They are directly delivered to you, and this can save you a ton of money as you do not have to hire a vehicle or spend money on any other equipment.
Time
Hiring a waste disposal service and a skip bin can save you a lot of time. If you are someone who does not have time to make a compost pit to responsibly dispose of green waste, you should give some thought to buying one.
If you want to buy a Skip bin, you can enquire about our Mobile Skips. You’ll be surprised about how fast and affordable, responsible waste disposal can be. All you have to do is place the garbage in a nearby Mobile Skip bin and give us a call.
Consequences of illegally dumping green waste
The amount of green waste in Australia has increased over the past years, and this has made our government put stricter laws in place. If you are caught dumping waste illegally, you can get fined hundreds of dollars.
Green waste is not just harmful to the environment but also is harmful to your health and others around you. These fines will just help us reduce, recycle, and repurpose the waste for a greener environment.
To sum it up, green waste in Sydney is still an issue, but these laws and the organised processes help us manage green waste in a better manner. It is always good to get skips to discard your waste and to avoid your environment from getting cluttered. If you are looking to get more details about green waste disposal and Mobile skips, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in contact with our team.
