Zero-waste event for VWMA’s international composting week

The Victorian Waste Management Association (VWMA) will be running a “zero-waste event” as part of International Composting Awareness Week (ICAW), including site tours and an industry breakfast, from 6 to 12 May in Melbourne.

ICAW is a week of activities, events and publicity to improve awareness of the importance of compost, a valuable organic resource and to promote compost use, knowledge and products.

The week is designed to generate awareness about the importance of composting and promote its wider use.

VWMA will be running a series of events to raise the profile of composting and organic resource recovery, profile the waste hierarchy and support the people and businesses innovating in the sector. Both members and non-members are invited to attend.

VWMA Chief Executive Officer Mark said that the VWMA believes this will be its first zero waste event, made possible through its partnerships with City of Port Phillip, Corio Waste Management/Western Composting, STREAT and BioPak.

Zero waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused working toward a goal of no trash to be sent to landfills.

Mr Smith said that this effectively means everything the VWMA, event caterer and partnering organisations bring into the St Kilda Town Hall for Monday’s ICAW Breakfast will be recyclable or compostable and should become a standard request by anyone organising events of similar scale/features.

VWMA is also working in conjunction with organisations such as Compost Revolution, Yume, Cleanaway, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Cricket Ground to promote business composting efficiency and positive environmental outcomes.

So where will this event’s organic waste from the breakfast end up?

The waste will be processed in Western Composting Technology’ best practise facility in Shepparton Central Victoria.

Working with Corio Waste Management and Western Composting Technology, the VWMA will deliver several 120-litre food waste containers and bioplastic bags to the City of Port Phillip kitchen within the venue space. After which time the bins will be removed and material transported to Shepparton after consolidation in Altona.

The food waste will then be processed into quality certified 4454-2012 compost and on sold to our customers within the Goulburn Valley region. The only requirement is that the material placed into the bins is food waste only in approved compostable bags.

Mr Smith said VWMA have organised behind the scenes access to a number of sites and facilities for its members and others interested in the industry.

“It’s so important that we build on national and international weeks of relevance to bring a positive profile to the great work happening in this space,” Mr Smith said.

“We believe these events will do that and I encourage anyone that has an interest in this space to come along. I hope tours showcasing the sector will become a standard activity for us in Victoria.”

In addition to breakfast on Monday the VWMA is also working with the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group, CERES, Melbourne Zoo, MCG, South Melbourne Market and Cleanaway to take a behind the scenes tour of how different organisations manage organic waste.

Featured events:

Monday 6 May:

Breakfast and program showcase:
A working breakfast will take place at the St Kilda Town Hall. Hear from leaders in sustainable packaging, food rescue, FOGO and more. The breakfast will include prizes and competitions for the attendees as well an outline of the City of Port Phillip’s waste strategy. Attendees at this event will include waste industry, local government, state government, councillors and MPs.

Thursday 9 May

Site tours:

The VWMA has created a unique opportunity to showcase the technology and approaches adopted by different businesses, entertainment venues/sites and operators working to better manage organic waste. The tour will include pick up, travel and drop off with prices including catering for the day.

Sites include: MCG, Melbourne Zoo, Cleanaway organic facility (Dandenong), CERES and South Melbourne Market.

For more information please visit the VWMA website. You can read more about ICAW here.

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