Ask Trash Queen: What should I do with food scraps if I don't have a compost?

Wednesday, 9 November 2022

Dear Trash Queen: Is it better for the environment to put my vegetable off-cuts such as potato peels down the garbage disposal or wrap the potato peels into newspaper and put them into the green bin for disposal? I know composting would be the best option, however this is not an option at this point.

- Cheryl

A: You are right on the money, waste disposal units in your sink are not that good for the environment. They are pretty much just a more expensive route to landfill, because the food that you put down them only gets chopped up into smaller bits, which then have to be screened out at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, then trucked off to landfill.

You might as well put them in your rubbish bin and shorten the journey!

This management pathway can be quite costly for those who manage our waste water infrastructure, particularly if there is a build up or blockage that has to be cleared.

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Putting potato peelings down the waste disposal unit also means a loss of important nutrients and compostable matter that could be turned into soil so that we can keep growing healthy food.

At the moment, the New Zealand Government is looking at mandating food scraps recycling in all urban centres, both for households and businesses. The Government has reported that more than 300,000 tonnes of food scraps are sent to New Zealand landfills every year, rotting and producing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Food scraps are estimated to contribute 22% of New Zealand’s emissions from landfills.

The Government has plans to close the loop to prevent those great nutrients from cycling out of the system. The Ministry for the Environment did a consultation on this proposal earlier this year, and we are waiting to hear what the next steps will be.

Many councils across the country are already rolling out food scraps collections, or are planning to in the next couple of years. If you live in an area that doesn’t have one yet, you could contact your green waste collector to see if they are OK with the odd bit of vegetable matter being placed in the green waste bin (this all depends on how they are processing it).

Alternatively, many community gardens around urban centres are establishing community composting hubs and collection services as an alternative to kerbside collections, so that residents who can’t compost, but are really keen to know their food scraps are being put to good use, can drop them off.

You may also have a friend or neighbour who is a keen composter, who may be happy to take the odd bucket of vege scraps into their own bin, or check out sharewaste.org.nz to connect you with a composting neighbour.

If you have a question about what to do with waste, send it to Trash Queen at sundaymagazine@stuff.co.nz.