RHYS PEMBERTON
A partnership between the Gold Coast City Council and local restaurant Café Catalina to reduce landfill will move into its second phase this month.
With an estimated 60,000 tonnes of food wasted annually on the Gold Coast, the initiative aims to repurpose potential landfill as garden mulch to ‘feed’ the city’s parks.
Councillor Paul Taylor, Chair of the Water and Waste Committee, said the second phase will have a wider impact on the Coast.
“Due to the success of the (first) trial, a food waste service will be implemented to the precincts of Surfers, Broadbeach and Main Beach from September 2018,” Cr Taylor said.
Anna Elgey, Events Manager at Café Catalina, said the initial phase provided an answer about what to do with excess food.
“The food wastage will be converted to compost to then be used to nourish the City of Gold Coast parks in hopes of helping the environment,” she said.
“We believe the council’s process works. If they opened it up to the general public too early without trials then it would open up for more chance of failure.”
Elijah Fuller, Kitchen Hand at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, said the centre was attempting to reduce its own considerable food waste through a similar program.
“We’ve implemented a new process whereby all the food waste goes into special bins with biodegradable bags and then the food and bags become mulch for gardens and parks around the city,” Mr Fuller said.