Bathurst council waste trial: Family-of-four embracing the challenge

The four-month trial, supported by Local Government NSW with funding from the NSW Government, is now under way with a number of households from Bathurst residential zones and local businesses randomly selected to participate.

Ms Jaques, of Abercrombie, has had her usual 240-litre rubbish bin replaced with a 140-litre one and she said her family was already mindful of the waste they discard.

"We're happy to be a part of the experiment," Ms Jaques said.

"We watched the [ABC-TV series] War on Waste a few years ago and it was a real eye-opener.

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"We're thinking more about the packaging we buy and how we separate our waste.

"There are a lot of big things you can't control but at least you can separate your waste into compost or recycling.

"Even our children are in the habit of separating their waste. They're aware of recycling and what's organic and it'll be normal for them when they grow up."

Ms Jaques said she, her partner and two children had less than half-filled their smaller red bin in the past week despite doing a pantry and toy room cleanout.

Bathurst councillor Ian North is also closely monitoring the trial. While he said he would prefer to keep his regular size bin and have weekly collections, Cr North is open to change if the trial indicates a need.

"The feedback council has received has led us to running this trial, to get feedback from the people and businesses and see what they think. It might be a way forward," Cr North said.

"But the one thing with bin collection, you've got to be all in. You can't have three houses getting done once a week and these five houses will be every fortnight. You can't do that. You've got to be all in. That's why you've got to do a trial, to see what people think.

"I wouldn't agree with a smaller red bin but if the community can agree that we're not filling it as often, then it might be something we might have to change."

Some of the homes taking part in the trial have been given a kitchen caddy and a roll of compostable liners to collect their green waste for the duration of the trial while other homes will have their waste collected fortnightly instead of weekly.

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