Manufacturing
2 min read
By Pedro Carreira
Updated 25 June 2026
Kombucha breweries generate: SCOBY waste (compostable — can be given to home brewers or composted), spent tea leaves (compostable), fruit pulp from flavouring (compostable), glass breakage, packaging, and trade waste from wash-down.
Most waste streams are compostable. Trade waste agreements needed for production wash-down.
Monthly waste: $150–500. Partner with local composters for SCOBY and fruit waste.
Key Numbers
- Monthly waste cost: $150–500
- Compostable streams: SCOBY, tea leaves, fruit pulp
- Wash-down: Trade waste agreement needed
- Metro landfill levy 2025–26: $169.79/tonne
What You Need to Know
A kombucha brewery is almost entirely an organics problem — most of what you throw out is compostable, so sending it to landfill means paying a levy on waste that never needed to go there.
- SCOBY waste — compostable; give to home brewers or compost.
- Spent tea leaves — compostable.
- Fruit pulp from flavouring — compostable.
- Glass breakage and packaging — recycle where clean.
- Wash-down — trade waste, requiring an agreement with your water authority.
Routing those organic streams to composting rather than landfill is exactly what Victoria's FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) Policy is driving — and it avoids the $169.79/tonne metro landfill levy on compostable material. As an independent broker, Bundle Waste audits your invoice for free and compares a network of providers to set up the right organics collection, paid only from the savings we find.
Related Resources
Related Questions
What waste does a Melbourne commercial spice blending company generate?+
Spice blenders generate: packaging waste from raw material bags, product dust from blending (extracted by ventilation — general waste), off-spec product (compostable or donate to animal feed), and general waste. Packaging from raw material bags is the largest stream, followed by extracted product dust and off-spec product. Spice dust is a combustion hazard — proper extraction and disposal is an OHS requirement. Monthly waste: $100–400. Clean ingredient bags (paper/plastic) are recyclable if uncontaminated.
What waste does a Melbourne commercial pasta maker generate?+
Fresh pasta makers generate: flour and semolina dust (ventilation extracted — general waste), dough scraps and off-cuts (can be reworked or composted), egg shells (compostable), packaging, and general waste. Dough waste that cannot be reworked should go to food organics composting. Monthly waste: $150–400. HACCP requirements mandate pest-proof waste storage. Clean flour bags are recyclable.
How should food manufacturers manage waste?+
Food manufacturers generate: production waste (5–15% of raw materials), packaging, wash-down water (trade waste), expired product. Mid-size manufacturer: $2,000–8,000/month. Key savings: production waste to animal feed/composting, cardboard baling.
How should wineries manage waste?+
Wineries generate: grape marc/pomace, lees, chemical waste, packaging, wastewater (high BOD). Marc can be composted or used as animal feed. Trade waste agreements required. Mid-size winery: $500–2,000/month.
What waste does a Melbourne commercial bakehouse (wholesale) generate?+
Wholesale bakeries generate higher waste volumes than retail bakeries. Ingredient packaging (flour bags, sugar bags) is the largest stream, followed by cardboard delivery boxes and production waste (dough scraps, burnt product), with smaller volumes of pallet wrap and general waste. A bakery producing 5,000+ items daily spends $500–1,500/month. Dough waste and burnt product should go to food organics composting. Flour bags are recyclable if clean.
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Updated 25 June 2026
