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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | If a food organics and garden organics collection service is adopted: Develop and implement a community education program | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | In 2004 the introduction of the best practice three-bin recycling system made it simpler and easier for households to recycle and resulted in the single largest increase in the tonnes of recyclables collected, up 19% from the previous year, and almost doubled (96%) the tonnes of organics collected. Combined, this resulted in an increase of nine percentage points in the diversion rate | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Infrastructure • Waste Recovery Centre • kerbside bins • public bins Collections • recyclables • garden organics • garbage • booked hard waste and bundled branches • commercial • multi-unit developments • shopping centres • parks and gardens • sports facilities Services • community engagement and education • customer service Data • waste stream quantities • population growth • impact of demographics and population growth on waste generation • service data Strategic Framework • Council Plan and other plans • Victorian Government • Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group • Australian Government Challenges and opportunities • recovering food organics • sorting materials into the correct bin • increase in multi-unit developments • population growth and densification • Avoiding waste | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Introducing the three-bin best practice recycling system in 2004 Sustainability Victoria developed the best practice system to reduce waste to landfill and increase recycling. As well as the 80L garbage bin already provided to households for weekly collection, Banyule households received a new 240L bin for paper and recyclable containers to be collected fortnightly and a 120L garden organics bin to be collected fortnightly. This was a major improvement for households that had previously tied paper in bundles and placed recyclable containers into a 120L bin, that were both collected fortnightly. Council collected garden organics fortnightly but households had to purchase their own bins. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | key actions for the Banyule community over the next four years as they are actions which could require financial investment, changes to current service provision, or necessitate cultural change by the entire Banyule community to successfully implement: Development of a business case (including financial costings) for commencement of a food organics garden organics (FOGO) kerbside collection service for households that enable food waste to be recycled. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Only garden organics are currently accepted in the organics collection. Council is considering collecting food organics as well, which made up 40% of the weight of the garbage bin in the audit (Figure 7). The existing garden organics processor has capacity to take food organics, which would be used to make recycled organic products. Removing food from the garbage bins, and therefore landfill, would reduce methane produced by the food as it breaks down. This requires a change to the collection system and an extensive education program to ensure that only garden and food organics are deposited in that bin as the contamination rate must be under 1%. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Over 11,000 tonnes of garden organics were recovered for reprocessing. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Program name Program outcome Schools Provide specialist advice to schools to reduce and avoid waste at school (and at home) using Council’s Waste Education Van and other resources Conduct bin audits to identify opportunities to reduce waste and increase recycling Council’s trained ResourceSmart Schools facilitator to work with the schools to complete the ResourceSmart modules Provide specialist advice to avoid food waste using the food waste diary and manage food waste at home with composting or green cones Community Coordinate waste avoidance workshop at local venues to assist residents to better manage waste and also avoid waste Decluttering workshops Waste information Festivals Council newsletters/ local media stories Composting seminar with gardening expert 1 1 school 1 school engaged 2 60 – 100 attendees Completed 2 workshops 6 4-5 2 4 2 40 attendees Large audience Large audience Large audience 60 – 100 attendees Completed 6 times Completed 4-5 times Completed 2 displays/activities 4 articles 1 workshops Annual target delivery Number of participants per session Benchmark for success 5 Whole school or classes that have waste added to the curriculum 5 schools engaged | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Provide new and retrofit existing public water drinking fountains to enable bottle filling to discourage the purchase of single use plastic water bottles. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | providing garden organics collections to over 48,600 households | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | recovering 52% of the combined total of garbage, recycling and garden organics from kerbside collections | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | recycling at community events the majority of respondents strongly supported Council recycling at community events including plastic, glass and aluminium (95%), cutlery and crockery (83%) and uneaten food (74%) | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | satisfaction with collection services: 82% of the total sample were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall kerbside collection service and the individual collections – 86% for garbage, 85% for recyclables and 80% for garden organics 22 79% had used the hard waste or bundled branches service and 84% of them were satisfied or very satisfied food organics one in three people used some sort of home composting system to manage food waste seven out of 10 people preferred to include food into the garden organics collection to keep their food waste out of landfill, if the cost was approximately the same the sample was evenly divided on managing food waste at home using a bio-digester and putting it in with the garden organics to be recycled | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Secure Council funding to develop and deliver a series of priority education and community engagement programs based on the waste hierarchy for Council to deliver across the four-year action plan | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Strategic direction 1: Avoid waste generation Action Priority 1 2-3 Year Years 4 & + Years Cost $ $$ $$$ Budget 0-$10,000 >$10,000-$100,000 >$100,000 E Existing R Additional Funding Required Measure Lead 1 Promote food waste avoidance to the community, through programs such as Love Food Hate Waste, to reduce avoidable food waste | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | The biggest short term opportunities that Council can control to achieve zero waste are educating people to sort materials into the right bin and to start collecting food organics with the garden organics collection. This would result in 58% of materials being moved out of the garbage bin in the next one to two years. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | The major opportunity to reduce waste to landfill is if Council accepted food organics in the garden organics collection as 40%, or 8,000 tonnes over one year, of the garbage bin were food organics. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | total kerbside organics diversion from landfill. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Undertake a business case to determine the viability to support households to manage food scraps and garden organics with subsidised home composting and/or bio-digesters | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Work with Banyule sporting clubs, charities, and volunteer organisations to implement purchasing practices, such as for food and drinks, that minimise waste and maximise resource recovery | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | If Council starts accepting food organics in the garden organics bin this would move over 8,000 tonnes from landfill for reprocessing. This means a total of 58% of materials in the garbage bin could be recycled. 3% of the recyclables bin is food organics. If 100% of these materials were sorted into the correct bins (including collecting food organics) this would reduce waste deposited to landfill by over 11,400 tonnes (or 58%) based on no other changes. This could increase the diversion rate from 53% to 80%. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | 6 4-5 2 4 2 40 attendees Large audience Large audience Large audience 60 – 100 attendees Completed 6 times Completed 4-5 times Completed 2 displays/activities 4 articles 1 workshops Annual target delivery Number of participants per session Benchmark for success 5 | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | An understanding of the nutritional and waste avoidance benefits of nude food | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | An understanding of the role soil microbes play in organics reprocessing and the promotion of domestic scale food waste reprocessing technology. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Community Coordinate waste avoidance workshop at local venues to assist residents to better manage waste and also avoid waste Decluttering workshops Waste information Festivals Council newsletters/ local media stories | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Composting seminar with gardening expert 1 1 school 1 school engaged 2 60 – 100 attendees Completed 2 workshops | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Council newsletters/ local media stories | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule City Council A waste avoidance, waste management and resource recovery plan for the Banyule community | Council supports ResourceSmart Schools ResourceSmart Schools is an award-winning Victorian Government program, managed by Sustainability Victoria, that assists schools to embed sustainability in everything they do. It provides practical support to reduce resource use, make cost savings, integrate sustainability into the curriculum and share learnings beyond the school gate. This means it schools helps schools reduce costs while giving students the opportunity to learn about sustainability in a tangible and realistic environment. It rewards and recognises students, teachers, and schools for sustainability achievements through Sustainability Certification and the Annual ResourceSmart School Awards. Council’s waste educator is a trained ResourceSmart Schools facilitator and works with the schools to complete the modules. Council supports ResourceSmart Schools in the municipality and encourages non-participating schools to become involved. Currently: 33, or 61%, of the total 54 schools in Banyule participate in ResourceSmart Schools. This is made up of 26 primary and 7 secondary schools. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule Older Adults Action Plan 2017 – 2019 | Progressively upgrade key pedestrian routes, providing shelter, drinking fountains and high seating with armrests, to assist people of all abilities to utilise these routes. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |
| Banyule Older Adults Action Plan 2017 – 2019 | Deliver the pilot Evergreen Program to support older adults to have a gardening experience. | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | Victoria | Banyule | Metropolitan |