Bin Trim Business Grants Program from NSW EPA
1,657 restaurant and catering businesses across the state are benefiting from the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) free Bin Trim waste management program, but more than 90 per cent of eligible food service businesses are still to take up the offer.
The NSW Government EPA-led Bin Trim Program helps all types of businesses that employ between 1 and 199 employees to identify simple actions to reduce their waste and boost profits.
Since the EPA launched the Bin Trim Program in 2014 more than 18,000 businesses across NSW have benefited including 1,657 Cafes, Restaurants, Takeaway Food Services, Catering Services, Clubs, Pubs, Taverns or Bars. However, there are many more eligible businesses that have yet to take advantage of the Bin Trim scheme.
Through the Bin Trim program, eligible businesses can access a free waste assessment and a financial rebate from $1,000 to $50,000 to help with the cost of purchasing recycling equipment.
The Bin Trim program is designed to build on the recycling activity that businesses are already undertaking and improve their waste practices, whilst minimising the impacts on their limited time and resources.
Dedicated Bin Trim Assessors work with businesses to conduct free assessments, produce tailored action plans and provide information to reduce waste, increase recycling and access financial rebates for recycling equipment.
The Bin Trim program has found that typically 62 per cent of waste (by weight) from cafes and restaurants is food waste. Food waste in landfill is a problem because it breaks down to form methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Participating businesses have used Bin Trim rebates to minimise this impact by purchasing a worm farm, composter or equipment to process and prepare food scraps for conversion to fertilizer or electricity after collection.
Restaurants generally have a lot of packaging waste as well, which includes cardboard, steel and aluminium cans, and plastic. Bin Trim Assessors can work with your business to organise a comingled (mixed recycling) collection and bin signage so that recyclables are sorted to the correct bins.
Restaurants and bars also have significant amounts of glass for disposal. This can be a WHS hazard, plus when it goes to landfill it wastes the valuable water, energy and raw materials that can be saved through recycling. Bin Trim rebates have also been used to fund glass crushers, reducing storage space until it is collected for recycling and saving a business thousands.
Reducing waste can help businesses reduce costs, save time, build staff morale and enhance corporate reputation. Recycling services can also be cheaper or cost neutral compared to waste services, particularly if on-site recycling equipment is used to prepare or process the material for easy collection. In addition, the Bin Trim program can provide advice on reducing food waste in the first place.
In NSW, businesses contribute 1.8 million tonnes of waste to landfill each year but 70 per cent of that could actually be reused or recycled. The Bin Trim program helps businesses identify opportunities to make simple changes to reduce waste.
Bin Trim assistance is now available for eligible businesses. To contact a Bin Trim Assessor for a free waste assessment or to discuss whether your business is eligible for a rebate to help with the cost of recycling equipment, go to the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s website: www.epa.nsw.gov.au/bintrim.
Bin Trim is a NSW Environment Protection Authority Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy.
Source: NSW EPA, 3rd November 2016
