It may not feel like much, but every old chicken bone or kiwifruit skin you throw into your little green bin is having a mighty impact on reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill, according to Tauranga City Council.

Since the council’s kerbside food scraps collections began in 2021 it has collected more than 9 million kilograms of food scraps from Tauranga households and turned them into compost for farms and orchards.

The collective effort of Tauranga households is having a significant impact both on sending less to landfill as well as reducing our emissions from waste, said Dan Smith, manager of sustainability and waste at the council.

“When food waste sits in landfills, starved of oxygen under piles of other waste, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Dan.

“Composting our food scraps instead of sending them to landfill, reduces the emissions created as the food scraps break down by 70%.”

Once picked up from your kerbside each week, the food scraps make their way to Enviro NZ’s specialised composting facility in Hampton Downs in the Waikato.

During the next 3-4 weeks the food scraps are turned into compost, using a damp, oxygen-rich environment where microbes quickly convert waste to compost. The compost then makes its way to farms and orchards to help grow new food.

“And just a reminder, the commercial composting process is great for even the trickier food scraps, including your left-over cooked food, meat, cheese, coffee grounds and eggshells,” said Dan.