Camden’s Waste Trucks Now Carry a Message

Up to 46 per cent of what Camden residents put in their red-lidded garbage bin is food. 78 per cent of that could have been eaten.

Two waste collection trucks are now carrying that message through South West Sydney streets, the first council vehicles in New South Wales to wrap themselves in The Great Unwaste campaign. It is a practical, rolling reminder that looks neighbours in the eye every collection day.

The wraps turn everyday infrastructure into a kitchen-table conversation. Tips on the truck sides show how to plan meals, check the fridge before shopping and love leftovers. Each action is small, but the bin audits make the case urgent.

Mayor of Camden, Cr Therese Fedeli, said the trucks were a natural platform for community education. “We saw a real opportunity to take positive food waste messages off the page and put them directly into neighbourhoods, where people see them in everyday life,” she said.

She urged residents to take a moment when they see the trucks out on their routes, and to note that reducing food waste is good for household budgets and the environment alike.

The Great Unwaste is Australia’s first nationwide behaviour change campaign targeting household food waste, launched by End Food Waste Australia in September 2024. In its first phase, unaided recall of food waste information jumped from six per cent to 25 per cent, and intended actions like freezing leftovers or planning meals climbed by up to 56 per cent. Ninety per cent of people surveyed agreed everyone has a responsibility to end food waste.

Camden’s own bin audits confirm the local picture. The campaign’s seven core actions — plan, check stocks, list, buy only what you need, store correctly, freeze and love leftovers — are now repeated on a truck that stops at hundreds of homes each week. The 46 per cent figure is not an outlier. It is a wake-up call wrapped in bright colours.

If you are in Camden and spot the wrapped truck, the council asks you to take those tips inside. Visit thegreatunwaste.com.au for recipes, storage guides and simple ways to shave dollars off your grocery bill. The approach is not about guilt; it is about habit.

Many of us assume food waste is mostly inedible scraps — banana peels, bones, tea bags. But the audits show the opposite. Most of what ends up in the red bin is perfectly good food that was bought with the best intentions but forgotten at the back of the fridge. Checking what you already have before shopping is the first, cheapest fix.

The council is also inviting the youngest community members to become part of the message. The Garbage Gallery art competition asks primary school students across the LGA to draw one of the seven unwaste actions. Two winning designs will be wrapped onto a waste truck and displayed for a full year, turning children into co-creators of the next phase of the campaign. Entry details are on the Camden Council website.

Every week, the garbage truck does more than collect waste. In Camden, it now carries a quiet challenge to rethink what we throw away — and the answer might be on the side of the truck.