Welcome to the Australian Local Food System Policy Database. This is a collection of policies from New South Wales (NSW) and Victorian local governments that relate to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
For further information about using the database and how it was created see How to use the database. You can search the database by using the fields below. Domain refers to eight broad categories under which various topics are situated. The domains and topics are based on a framework of recommendations for local government action on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system (also located on the ‘How to use the database’ page linked above).
To cite the database: Reeve B, Carrad A, Rose N, Charlton K & Aguirre-Bielschowsky I (2021) Australian Local Food System Policy Database. Available at: https://law-food-systems.sydney.edu.au/policy-database (access date).
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Hold Ctrl to select multiple terms. Using ‘any words’ functions as an “OR” search. Using ‘all words’ functions as and “AND” search.
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| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 4.2.1 Cooma-Monaro Shire Education and Communication Plan 2014 An education and communications plan was developed to assist the 3 bin rollout process. The goals of the Plan are as follows; To keep food and garden waste out of our landfill and therefore reduce waste disposal costs To produce a local resource that can be used by food growers and community assets To enable the community and Council to work together to help the environment To improve the fertility and health of our local soils | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 4.2.1 Cooma-Monaro Shire Education and Communication Plan 2014 An education and communications plan was developed to assist the 3 bin rollout process. The goals of the Plan are as follows; To keep food and garden waste out of our landfill and therefore reduce waste disposal costs To produce a local resource that can be used by food growers and community assets To enable the community and Council to work together to help the environment To improve the fertility and health of our local soils | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 6.1 Coompost Farm The arid landscape on the Monaro means that growing edible gardens and maintaining quality sporting fields and public spaces can be challenging. Conditioning soils through the use of a contaminant free Council produced product creates significant opportunities for the local community. Coompost Farm seeks to meet that local need. A range of opportunities also exist as a result of the expansion of the Coompost Farm. The farm produces a marketable resource for local use and further potential markets are currently being explored. Weed management and food production are current avenues of investigation. Poor soil in the region has a negative impact on food production and this product can assist in improving prospects. Council is also investigating other options based on the work currently being done in the African Love Grass trials with a partner organisation. It provides the potential for the agricultural community to become the beneficiary of the end product. Investing in the production of high grade material and infrastructure will enable future opportunities to be fully embraced. While one supermarket provides organic waste to Coompost Farm, in the future the commercial sector more broadly has the potential to be a supplier of source material. There is interest in the supply of large quantities of the end product for agricultural use. This could lead to a long term commercial arrangement. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 3 bin system roll out completed 2015 with overwhelmingly positive results. A major supermarket outlet has opted in and there is interest with other outlets. Completed 2014 Completed 2015 A comparative report has also been developed and is available for review Approval obtained with license for 500t food and 2,000t garden organics capacity Coompost Farm operational. Grant funding received 2015 to extend the site to accommodate increased demand. Refer to Compost schematic Purchased 2011/12 | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 3.1.1 Current kerbside service – recycling and landfill In January 2015, CMSC introduced a 3 bin system to the Cooma Township. The roll out process was undertaken over several months with an extensive community engagement process taking place from mid-2014. The successful consultation process led to a smooth roll out of the service which involved the reduction in size of the red lidded general waste bin from 240 litres to 120 litres and the addition of a food and organics (FoGo) waste kerbside collection service. Kitchen caddies and corn starch bags were also distributed to households as part of the process. The landfill savings attributed to this service in the first year of operation from January to December 2015 equated to 58 truckloads of waste diverted from landfill. This was an environmental and financial saving of 462 Tonnes of waste to landfill. 91.89 additional tonnes of dry recyclables were collected at the kerbside and diverted from landfill. And, 61 Tonnes of processed Coompost was sold to the community | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 3.1.9 Coompost In 2008 Council commenced a composting trial which led to the introduction of an organic composting system in 2011. Council purchased a windrow compost turner at this time. It then commenced the manufacture of compost by diverting food and garden waste from the waste stream. The initiative has been embraced by the community and as a result of a local competition the product has been given the name “Coompost”. 66 cubic metres of garden waste mulch and; 33 cubic metres of food and garden waste from kerbside collection. Photo 10 – Coompost Farm In 2015 Council was successful in accessing infrastructure funding that meant Coompost Farm could be expanded. This enables Council to produce significant quantities of Coompost that will benefit the community. The farm is collocated with the landfill and comprises an open area upon which food and garden waste is stockpiled. The activities at the site and the subsequent output in the form of compost is identified as one of Council’s ventures. The raw material is shredded and composted in windrows. The composting process which was developed after extensive research and trial involves the following procedure; Feedstock materials are stockpiled at the Cooma Landfill site and are formed into 100 metre windrows to the following ratios; 66 cubic metres of manure, The windrows are then turned and wetted with an application of water and inoculants at the rate of 1 litre of inoculants to 1000 litres of water. The windrows are monitored for moisture, temperature and CO² rates daily. The temperatures in the windrows are to exceed 55 degrees Celsius for a minimum of 14 days. This is a requirement for pasteurisation to occur, by which propagules and pathogens become unviable. At the commencement of the 3rd week of the process, the windrows are re-inoculated with a humifier and pushed together i.e. 4 rows become 2. The windrows are then turned regularly and close attention is paid to the moisture content which should never fall below 40%. At the commencement of the 6th week a finisher is added to the windrows and the rows are turned and watered regularly over the next 4 weeks. After 10 weeks the compost is ready to be tromeled (sieved) and stockpiled. This valuable resource is now able to leave the site for use by the community and agricultural sector. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 4.2.1 Cooma-Monaro Shire Education and Communication Plan 2014 An education and communications plan was developed to assist the 3 bin rollout process. The goals of the Plan are as follows; To keep food and garden waste out of our landfill and therefore reduce waste disposal costs To produce a local resource that can be used by food growers and community assets To enable the community and Council to work together to help the environment To improve the fertility and health of our local soils | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | 6.1 Coompost Farm The arid landscape on the Monaro means that growing edible gardens and maintaining quality sporting fields and public spaces can be challenging. Conditioning soils through the use of a contaminant free Council produced product creates significant opportunities for the local community. Coompost Farm seeks to meet that local need. A range of opportunities also exist as a result of the expansion of the Coompost Farm. The farm produces a marketable resource for local use and further potential markets are currently being explored. Weed management and food production are current avenues of investigation. Poor soil in the region has a negative impact on food production and this product can assist in improving prospects. Council is also investigating other options based on the work currently being done in the African Love Grass trials with a partner organisation. It provides the potential for the agricultural community to become the beneficiary of the end product. Investing in the production of high grade material and infrastructure will enable future opportunities to be fully embraced. While one supermarket provides organic waste to Coompost Farm, in the future the commercial sector more broadly has the potential to be a supplier of source material. There is interest in the supply of large quantities of the end product for agricultural use. This could lead to a long term commercial arrangement. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Completion of Coompost Farm extension | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Coompost Farm ( composting facility) | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Focus on diverting organic waste from | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | In 2015 Council was successful in gaining funding to expand the compost area. Now known as “Coompost Farm” the funding enabled the site to increase in size to accommodate increased demand. It also enabled the Council purchase of ‘fit for purpose’ equipment. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Organic material (average) per household per week present in the residual waste stream is 2.76 kgs, down from 5.70 kgs | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Over the life of the 2011 Strategy Council has delivered a range of achievements that include but are not limited to; A shift to a “three bin system” incorporating food and garden waste kerbside collection for the Cooma Township occurred in 2015 following the receipt of NSW Government grant funding under the ‘Waste Less, Recycle More’ program. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | Roll out kerbside collection service for garden and kitchen organics Investigate commercial organics collection service to restaurants and other food premises etc. Conduct a waste audit 6 months prior to collection service change Conduct a waste audit 6 months after collection service change Check requirements for license variation for composting Combine Groundswell organics processing with anaerobic windrow techniques to manufacture compost for garden and broad acre use at the existing Cooma Landfill site Purchase windrow turner | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | The composting area is located on the eastern side of the landfill. The composting pad is a compacted clay based hardstand area. The processing area was designed and constructed in consultation with the NSW Environmental Protection Authority. All runoff from the compost pad flows into the leachate pond via a purpose built drainage system. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | This residual waste audit in 2014 provided data that justified the introduction of the Organic Kerbside Collection initiative which was subsequently introduced in 2015.. A significantly large amount of organic matter that could have been composted was, at that time, entering the landfill. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Cooma Monaro Resource and Waste Strategy | This residual waste audit provided data that justified the introduction of the organic kerbside collection initiative. A significantly large amount of organic matter that would otherwise be entering landfill is now being recycled into compost. Furthermore, the overall rates of recycling of all materials have increased, which again reduces the quantities of waste entering landfill. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Snowy Monaro | Regional |
| Coonamble Shire 2032 Community Strategic Plan for Coonamble Shire | I3.1 Deliver safe drinking water and sewer services | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | NSW | Coonamble | Regional |
| Coonamble Shire 2032 Community Strategic Plan for Coonamble Shire | Our Economy – Achieve long-term economic security and prosperity. A robust local economy is important for the future of Coonamble Shire. A diverse industry base, sustainable businesses, tourism and an economy that is continually stimulated through investment will be necessary. Long term employment options, diverse populations, youth education programs to encourage young people to stay or move to Coonamble Shire will contribute to the area’s economic future. We must deliver safe, sustainable and quality housing options and encourage sustainable development of Coonamble Shire’s diverse range of economic and investment opportunities including natural resources, tourism, manufacturing, agricultural, horticultural and aquaculture enterprises. | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Coonamble | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Influence State Government controls and regulations to ensure they allow agriculture activity to grow | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | AG SUPPLY CHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE ASK: $5.4m for Williams Road, Simpson $2.9m for Cross Forest Road $2.8m for Timboon Terang Road 1 2 3 The Dairy Supply Chain across the South West contributes a quarter of the nation’s milk production and a third of milk exports. Cobden, in Corangamite Shire, is the epicentre for in and outflows. High Productivity Freight Vehicles are large combination vehicles that lower costs, reduce the number of trucks on local roads and improve safety. Funding is required to upgrade local freight corridors through the Shire to accomodate these vehicles. These roads need to be able to handle heavier weight loads and continue to be safe for all road users. Works include the widening and strengthening of key east-west and north-south freight routes. The growth rate is 1.5% annually and expected to reach 20% increase by 2045. This will translate into an extra 47% of gross tonnage carted across our roads network. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Develop northern food trail | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Increase the number of businesses on food artisans trail within the life of the Council Plan | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | • Establish monthly Farmers Market | Economic Development | Public food markets and distributors | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | 3 VIBRANT ECONOMY, AGRICULTURE & TOURISM | Economic Development | Local food producers | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Increase the economic value of the food and fibre sector within Corangamite Shire • Support the expansion of existing agricultural businesses; the diversification of agriculture and increased value adding of local product • Strengthen engagement with the food and fibre sector to provide useful information on export markets, grants, research and opportunities | Economic Development | Local food producers | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Influence State Government controls and regulations to ensure they allow agriculture activity to grow | Economic Development | Local food producers | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | Investigate establishment of an agri-business precinct | Economic Development | Local food producers | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |
| CORANGAMITE SHIRE | VIBRANT ECONOMY, AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM We value the importance of local business to our economy and the overall prosperity of Corangamite Shire | Economic Development | Local food producers | Victoria | Corangamite | Regional |