Green market

South Melbourne Market’s innovative organic waste systems have won the Port Phillip Council two separate sustainability awards.

The systems won the Environmental Sustainability Awards at both the IPAA Victoria Leadership in the Public Sector Awards and the LGPro Awards for Excellence.

The market’s waste program includes two processes that recycle organic waste: a vermicomposting worm farm project and the installation of a GaiaRecycle machine that heats and dehydrates organic material.

This has resulted in more than 90 per cent reduction in organic waste volume at the market, where you can now buy market-made garden fertiliser products.

Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss said the award-winning systems were proving it was possible to successfully divert organic waste from landfill at a large scale.

“Our market is the first retail market in Australia to adopt this technology and the results really are outstanding,” Cr Voss said.

The projects have already diverted about 950 tonnes of green and food waste from landfill.