What Happens To Green Waste After It’s Been Collected

What Happens To Green Waste After It’s Been Collected

Sep 14, 2018

Have you ever wondered what happens to your green waste after it’s collected from your home? Recycling has been a part of our lives for so long that it’s easy to forget that us putting all our waste into the separate bins is just the beginning of the recycling journey.

Australians send over 80 000 tons of green waste to the various processing plants around the country, and it’s important to understand the journey it takes to become rich, valuable compost at the end of the line.

Here’s what happens to your green waste once it’s been collected:

1. Waste collection trucks carry the organic material to a waste processing facility. These are run by a number of different organisations across the country.
2. The loads are spread out onto the floor of enormous warehouses for sorting. This is an important process, in which any large, harmful or inorganic materials are weeded out. You might think that the stench would be unbearable, but these facilities utilise biofilters fuelled by organic material and wood chips to neutralise odours.
3. Once the green waste has been carefully sorted, it’s fed into enormous composters, which use bacteria and heat, up to 60°C, to kill dangerous organisms that could pollute the compost. The waste spends at least three days in these composters to season it.
4. The waste has become immature compost and is then re-sorted as it is carried on conveyor belts. The aim is to remove any pieces of plastic or pieces of metal that were missed in the first sorting stage.
5. Next, the waste is laid out in large aeration sheds for 42 days, in which the climate is kept warm and very humid.
6. The compost is again sorted and filtered as a final check for any pollutants or foreign materials.
7. The second-last step is to process the compost with nutritive and other natural products to turn it into a rich, seasoned compost.
8. Finally, what was green waste from your home is donated for use on farms and public gardens to feed the soil and help grow healthy plants and trees. The circle is complete.

Recycling will keep our planet healthy for generations to come so it is important for every person to do their bit. Do you have green waste that needs to be recycled? WM Waste Management Services collects all kinds of green waste for the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Contact us to organise your waste removal service today!