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Three hundred Kyabram households are to be invited to take part in an innovative organic waste trial.

Shire of Campaspe Council’s environment and waste spokesperson Cr Greg Toll said the project has been made possible by Victorian Government funding through Sustainability Victoria’s Towards Zero Waste Support Grants.

The trial, which aims to gauge the costs and benefits of a food and garden waste collection service, will be run by the Shire in conjunction with the Goulburn Valley Regional Waste Management Group, Cleanaway and Sustainable Kyabram.

Cr Toll said the idea of a third kerbside bin is not new, but investigating the various methods of transferring waste from the kitchen to the wheelie bin outside will be new for the region.

‘‘Households in the trial will be provided with an additional bin, along with a small kitchen bin to assist with the

transferring of food waste from the kitchen,’’ he said.

Introduction of an organic waste service was identified in the Shire’s Waste Management Strategy, adopted last year.

The five-year strategy was developed as part of council’s commitment to provide sustainable solutions for the collection, disposal and resource recovery of locally generated waste.

Cr Toll said a comprehensive garbage audit carried out in 2007 and 2010 found Campaspe Shire had the highest proportion of organic waste in the region.

‘‘Organic material left to decompose in landfill produces a significant amount of methane, which has 21-25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide,’’ Cr Toll explained.

‘‘The results indicated 65 per cent of domestic garbage going to landfill in the shire was organic food waste, made up of 25 per cent food waste and 40 per cent garden waste. ‘‘

Recycling contractor Cleanaway is supporting the trial and processing the collected material.

Preliminary work has been completed and selected households will shortly receive their letter of invitation to participate. The trial will commence early March and run for a three month period.