Bin Tagging

The City of Burnside’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy includes a priority to reduce waste and increase recycling. To promote the use of the green organics bin for food waste, Council conducts bin tagging, a method of engagement that has been successful in Burnside and other councils.

We gratefully acknowledge the large-scale bin tagging project is supported by grant funding from Green Industries SA.

The focus of the bin tagging project is on food waste. Why?

There are numerous reasons why it is very important for food waste to go in the green organics bin. First, it is around five times cheaper to send food waste to be composted, by putting it in the green organics bin, rather than sending it to landfill. These savings keep the pressure off Council rates in the City of Burnside.

Using the green organics bin for food waste also makes good environmental sense. The contents of the green organics bin are turned into valuable compost, rather than being wasted in landfill. Composting food waste also generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than sending it to landfill.

How does this bin tagging work?

Bin tagging involves a quick check of the content of Council bins when they are on the verge for collection. The Council team then place temporary education notices (bin tags) on the bins. The tags provide feedback on the use of the bin for food waste. For example, if the green organics bin contains food waste, the tags provide positive feedback. If the landfill bin is used for food waste, the tags provide educational information reminding the household that food waste belongs in the green bin. The tags also provide information about the importance of putting food waste in the green organics bin.

Previous success

In 2021 sixty households were randomly selected to be a part of the bin tagging project and had their bins tagged three times. On the first check, 73 per cent of the households were placing their food waste in their organics bins. It was good to see that most households were doing the right thing! By the third check, six weeks later, 95 per cent of those households were placing food waste in their green organics bins, an excellent improvement!