Tamworth Organic Recycling Centre could take over a million tonnes of greenhouse gas out of landfill

A huge difference according to the War on Waste's Craig Reucassel, who identified methane, CO2 and leachate from landfill as one of the city's most pressing issues while he was here as special guest at the inaugural Waste Warrior Expo.

"Food waste should not be in landfill - it is ridiculous," Mr Reucassel said.

"In landfill food waste degrades and creates methane and leachate, and has a massive multiplier effect, something like 25 times, on greenhouse gas emissions compared to composting it."

Mr Reucassel pointed to the incredibly successful Armidale City to Soil program which program leader Simon Anderson said has been thoroughly embraced by the local community since launching in 2016.

"Every year we are diverting about 440,000 tonne of CO2, and 2400 tonnes of waste away from landfill," he said.

"We turn that 2400 tonne of green waste into 2000 tonne of compost and sell it back to the community - demand is far outstripping supply as well." 

The simple system has seen council issue 10 litre 'sink caddies', and biodegradable bags to households to put food waste in.

Every fortnight the food waste bag is collected with the green waste bin and composted over 12 weeks at a dedicated site, before being sold back to the community.

In June last year Tamworth council had their plans for a $5 million facility scuttled because of the proposed sites proximity to the airport.

While the original $1.35 million grant is still available the withdrawal of the Development Application and hunt for new site has set the program back at least two years according to Water and Waste Manager Dan Coe.

“We are currently finalising concept designs for the proposed composting technology,” he said. 

“These will be presented in the (April) report to council along with a shortlist of some suitable sites."

Mr Coe hopes the new DA will be submitted by the end of 2019.