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Teddy and Tom with bin

Environment

Bin there, checked that

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This initiative is now closed.

The Barossa Council partnered with KESAB in a research project aimed at supporting a more environmentally sustainable future. With a strong focus on education, the initiative set out to discover what might help residents to use the green organics bin for all compostable materials, especially food waste.

Learnings from the initiative

We’re pleased to report that we have seen a sustained improvement in food waste disposal in the green bin over the course of the program, which is a fantastic result!

  • In both Townships the percentage of households putting food in landfill bins decreased significantly. Township A started at 65% visible food in the red waste bin and reduced to 43%. Township B started at 51% and went down to 33%.
  • 53% of survey respondents told us that they are using the green bin more because of the initiative.
  • 52% of survey respondents told us that they are more aware of the food they throw out because of this program.
  • Some people were unaware that all food scraps could go in the organics bin, including cooked scraps, dairy, eggshells, meat and bones.
  • 14.5% of survey respondents/households also use chickens, worm farms, or compost bins for food waste when they don’t use the green bin (good local insight!).

The media release finalising this program can be found here.

An Information Report was delivered at the August 2026 Council meeting and can be accessed here.

There was a strong survey response - 27.5% (55/200).

Feedback to share?

The survey form is now closed. Any additional feedback or comments can be sent to wasteservices@barossa.sa.gov.au

Why a focus on food scraps in the green bin?

  • When food scraps are composted, they’re given a second life by improving soil health in gardens, public spaces, and the farms that grow our food.
  • Keeping food scraps out of landfill reduces greenhouse gas emissions by preventing the release of methane.
  • Costs are lower as the Solid Waste Landfill Levy does not apply to compostable material placed in the green-lidded organics bin.

FAQs

General information about the education program has been released via the Leader Newspaper, a social media post and council's website, in advance of when KESAB Resource Recovery Educators will be visiting the Barossa.

If your household is one of the 200 selected to be part of the initiative, your bin will be tagged and more information placed in your letter box sometime during the month of August on your regular bin collection day.

KESAB will partner with Council to deliver this food waste education initiative until 30 June 2026.

A paper tag means that your street has been selected to be part of a food waste education initiative, and a KESAB Resource Recovery Educator looked in your bins today. You can remove this tag.

This is a positive education initiative focused on helping households to move food scraps from the red-lidded waste bin - where they are sent to landfill - into the green-lidded organics bin, where they can be turned into compost instead.

There are no penalties, and your kerbside service will not be affected. As part of this initiative KESAB will return to your street to look in bins four times between now and 30 June 2026.

No, this is a positive education initiative. There are no penalties, and your kerbside collections will not be affected. We understand that sorting waste and recyclables correctly can be challenging, and part of this initiative is about testing what education might help residents to know what goes in which bin.

Yes! there will be no disruption to services and your bin will be emptied on the same day.

It may be emptied later than normal though if it is normally serviced early in the day.

More information can be found:

- On Council's website by visiting barossa.sa.gov.au and searching 'green organics bin',

- At www.whichbin.sa.gov.au or by calling 1300 137 188, a State Government resource to help residents recycle more, or

- By talking to Council's Waste Services Team on (08) 8563 8444, at which time you can also request for a A5 fridge magnet with tips on what goes in the green organics bin to be mailed to you.

KESAB has been provided a list of house numbers in nominated streets, so their Resource Recovery Educators can record the bins presented and observations each time they visit.

To ensure anonymity, when this data is provided to Council by KESAB, all references to house numbers will have been removed and replaced with sequential numbers from 1 - 200.

At the end of the program, KESAB will produce a report for Council to help inform future waste and recycling education. All data will be grouped (aggregated), de-identified, and the participating street names will remain confidential.

If you are asked to complete an optional survey, you will only be asked to identify yourself by your suburb name.

We understand that some households may feel hesitant or uncomfortable about being selected to take part. We are keen for all households to remain involved in the initiative and have clear processes in place to provide assurances that:

- all bins are tagged the same way so no one will know what feedback or education was specifically provided to your household.

- all data will be aggregated (grouped) and de-identified, and the location of selected streets will remain confidential, in any reporting.

We encourage you to contact Council on (08) 8563 8444 if you still have concerns about the initiative. Our hope is that we can address any questions or concerns so that you are content to participate, however if we cannot reach a mutual understanding, we can remove your household from the sample at any time.

KESAB, also known as Keep South Australia Beautiful, is South Australia’s leading not-for-profit organisation delivering world class community-based environmental sustainability education programs. Their mission is to lead and inspire improvement, preservation, and protection of the environment, through education and positive behaviour change.

If KESAB are in your street, they will be there between 7am and 10am on your normal collection day. They will work in pairs and have hi-visibility vests labelled with KESAB. The educators will look in the bins placed on the kerbside and will not enter your property. You are welcome to talk to KESAB if you see them.

Green Industries SA (Government of South Australia), known as GISA, support the development of the circular economy through diverse collaborations and partnerships which improve productivity, resilience, resource efficiency and the environment.

GISA provide Council Modernisation Grants that fund councils to improve waste management and recycling services through the introduction of innovative measures to improve operational efficiencies, customer service and economic development benefits for the community.

Program materials

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