Jason White, ANL Central West’s regional manager, said that’s 350 tonnes of material that will not go into landfill.

The matter collected from Bathurst Regional Council’s green bins will be stockpiled, put through a shredder and then placed in windrows to break down.

The material is turned three times as it breaks down and its temperature is monitored. 

It is then tested for pesticides, heavy metals and nutrients.

Mr White said the windrow process takes about three months from start to finish. 

He said the compost created at ANL was mostly used on broadacre properties. 

“The agriculture industry has really come on board with organics,” Mr White said.

“They are talking more and more about the value of carbon in the soil over synthetics.

“There is no disadvantage in using organics and there is a lot of benefit,” he said. 

Mr White said by obtaining green waste and food waste from regular council collections, ANL could provide a regional organic resource right through from the city to the farm.

“Up until now that waste has gone to the tip,” he said.

“We can’t just stick all our waste into a hole in the ground any more.

“With this new waste collection system there should be practically nothing in people’s red bins any more,” Mr White said.

He said ANL had been recycling organics in the Central West for the past 45 years.

“This is the next step for us. It’s very exciting,” he said.

Using food waste is something they have been keen to explore. 

Mr White said because they haven’t worked with food waste before, they don’t want to put it straight into the normal compost piles. 

It will have its own windrows. 

“We think there might be more benefit to it than we know so it would be a waste to put it in with the green waste until we do some testing,” he said.

“It is our intention to ultimately develop a new compost range from it.”

Mr White said the company hoped Blue Mountains Council would be the next to come on board. 

He said councils were now trying to divert as much organic material from land fill as they could. 

Garden waste, food waste, paper and cardboard can all be composted. The paper and cardboard is useful because it absorbs moisture.

“Every Australian soil needs compost for water retention and nutrients,” Mr White said. 

He said it was important for people to wrap their food scraps in paper and put them in the bin.

Mr White said staff at ANL do not want to see any plastic bags, even biodegradable ones.

Two manual pickers are employed at the facility and have the onerous job of picking through the rotting food and garden waste to remove even the smallest scrap of plastic.

ANL delivers compost to farmers, landscape gardeners and horticulturalists by the truckload, but they have their own bagging facility, too, which means they can sell the compost in smaller quantities. 

“Bathurst residents will now be able to buy their own regional compost in Bathurst through us,” Mr White said.