FOGO – Food and Garden Organics (lime-green lid) kerbside bin service.

Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bins should now ONLY be used for food scraps and garden waste.

Fibre-based products including paper towels, cardboard or paper packaging, tissues or pizza boxes are no longer accepted in the FOGO bin. The exception to this rule is paper used to wrap food scraps (for example a kitchen caddy lined with newspaper), and Australian Certified Council approved compostable kitchen caddy liners used to contain food scraps.

Why has it changed?

Councils and our commercial compost facilities need to comply with state government legislation and policy – the NSW EPA’s Compost Order and the NSW Position Statement on FOGO. Recent testing has also found that many fibre-based products claim to be compostable but contain chemicals and substances that can harm the environment and our health. Keeping those potentially harmful items out of our green bins means that we can create high-quality commercial compost to support food production and soil health.

Rural Food Waste Composting Solutions Survey

The Rural Food Waste Composting Solutions Survey was designed by NE Waste in conjunction with the Regional Waste Educators Group.

The aim of the survey is to provide an insight into current food waste management systems and future options in rural communities/households currently not serviced with a kerbside FOGO bin.

To see the full report click here.