Where we’re at with FOGO and green waste
Published on 22 July 2024
Council occasionally gets queries from residents about why we do not have a Food Organic Garden Organic (FOGO) collection service – the bins you might see elsewhere in the state with the green lids.
Under the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria Circular Economy Act all Councils are mandated to provide a FOGO service to residents by 2030.
That does not necessarily mean a kerbside service – it could be at a transfer station or town drop-off point or similar.
However, Council has committed to rolling out a kerbside service by the mandated date.
In doing this we are seeking to provide best value to residents, knowing that cost of living increases are a serious issue in the community. We also need to avoid FOGO simply ending up in landfill.
From working with other councils, we have also seen the lessons they have learned from rolling out services without an end use to the product and in turn residents having the collection, haulage and processing costs fully attributed to their waste services levy – which can be a lot of money.
Council held off implementing kerbside glass collection for very similar reasons. With the introduction of the Container Deposit Scheme, kerbside collection of glass at other Councils has become almost redundant. This saved the community considerable upfront and ongoing costs.
The steps to this aren’t simply a matter of introducing FOGO kerbside collection but a process that Council has been working through, detailed below with the outcomes we are focusing on.
§ completed - Transition Plans submitted to Recycling Victoria – These plans are required to ensure we meet our obligations under the Act.
§ completed - Renew Waste Collection Contracts – Contracts for these services firm up the costs and enable waste services levy to be calculated when the FOGO collection is rolled out.
§ completed - Renew Waste Haulage and Disposal Contracts – These contracts confirm the total amount of all separated waste streams including general, recyclables and FOGO.
§ completed - Waste Education Strategy development – This strategy points the best way forward for residents to ensure contamination remains low and sets the rollout of FOGO for success.
§ completed - Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) – The CDS was rolled out by the State Government. The impact has clearly shown that if Council rolled out a glass collection service – like other councils – it would have been premature and come at a cost to residents. Council is considering drop off points for collection of glass containers which are not accepted by CDS.
§ ongoing - Study of regional processing options – This study, still to be done, will examine the viability of processing organics locally / regionally and removing the need to transport and process FOGO. It could significantly reduce the cost, or even remove it, for residents and produce an environmentally sustainable way of handling this type of waste.
So, the reason for not rushing kerbside collection of FOGO is to ensure we do it right, the rollout provides the best possible solution and is environmentally sustainable for the whole community.