From Tuesday 1 May food scraps can be placed in green bins. All food scraps, tissues and paper towels will be able to go in green bins, including leftovers, meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable scraps.

Bins will be emptied on the same day as normal. Green bins and recycling bins are emptied fortnightly and garbage bins are emptied weekly.

Glen Eira Mayor Cr Tony Athanasopoulos said Glen Eira will be the first council in Victoria’s south-east to introduce food waste recycling.

"Introducing food waste recycling is one of the single biggest opportunities for reducing carbon emissions from services that Council manages," he said.

"We hope to divert as much as possible of the 15,000 tonnes of food waste currently sent to landfill each year in Glen Eira."

Council is offering each household a free kitchen benchtop caddy to put their food scraps in. When it’s full, it can be emptied into the green bin alongside garden waste.

This food and garden waste will be turned into compost and then used in parks, gardens and farms to improve soil — rather than being buried in landfill.

Cr Athanasopoulos said food waste makes up around half of what goes in household garbage bins in Glen Eira.

"Left in landfills, rotting food waste creates methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide," he said.

"We need to divert as much food waste as possible into the green bin. This will help us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from waste and save on costs."

To pre-order a free kitchen caddy visit www.gleneira.vic.gov.au or contact Council’s Service Centre on 9524 3333. Those who don’t already have a green bin can contact Council’s Service Centre to order one. For further information on reducing and recycling your food waste, visit our website.