Bass Coast Shire Council Kerbside Source Separated Organics Project

The Bass Coast Shire Council Kerbside Source Separated Organics Project is a waste diversion initiative centered around the Council's waste management operations, specifically the Grantville Landfill, located approximately 95km southeast of Melbourne and just south of the township of Grantville, Victoria. Registered in April 2016, the project serves the Bass Coast Shire, a region characterized by a temperate, high-rainfall coastal climate and land use dominated by dairy farming, grazing, and tourism.

Operating under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Source Separated Organic Waste) Methodology Determination 2016, the project generates carbon credits by diverting organic waste from landfill, where it would otherwise decompose anaerobically and release methane, to an alternative treatment facility. In September 2017, the Bass Coast Shire Council introduced a three-bin "Food Organics Garden Organics" (FOGO) system. This change facilitated the separation of food scraps and garden waste at the household level (the point of generation). Instead of entering the general waste stream, this material is transported to a facility using enclosed composting technology to produce nutrient-rich organic fertilizer.

The project has been highly effective in reducing the region's carbon footprint. Following the introduction of the FOGO service, the council reported a dramatic increase in landfill diversion rates, jumping from approximately 30% to over 77%. By 2018, the community had already diverted nearly 9,000 tonnes of organic waste, significantly extending the lifespan of the Grantville landfill cells and mitigating thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. The Bass Coast community is frequently cited as one of the best recycling communities in Victoria due to low contamination rates in their organic waste streams.