Food recycling scheme to be rolled out to apartment blocks with 30 or more units

THE rollout of FOGO starter kits to residential complexes with 30 or more units and existing green lidded bins is underway.

Remondis, Wollongong City Council’s waste management contractor, is working with strata managers and strata committees across the city on the introduction of FOGO into unit complexes.

Through the introduction of FOGO, Remondis will ensure the complexes have appropriate signage and quantity of green-lidded organic bins to cater for the residents’ needs.

The rollout is expected to continue into early next year, with around 100 individual unit complexes needing to be contacted and an assessment carried out to understand their signage and bin needs for the varying unit complexes. These key steps will assist with educating the residents on FOGO best practice and help ensure the food organics collected from the units is uncontaminated by other household waste materials and able to eventually be turned into quality compost.

As when FOGO was launched last November, the FOGO kits delivered to each unit will include a welcome letter, FOGO user guide, kitchen caddy and a roll of 150 compostable caddy liners.

Strata committees of unit complexes of 30 units or more are encouraged to contact their strata managers about the rollout or to reach out to Remondis on 1300 362 360 or education@wollongongwaste.com.au to learn more about the process.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the logistical challenges of delivering FOGO to unit complexes during the pandemic have been significant.

“FOGO for Wollongong has been a positive step towards achieving Council’s net zero emissions targets, and having more households on board with the program will help drive the reduction of our environmental impact,” he said.

“Residents across Wollongong are embracing a FOGO future with less waste headed to our red lidded bins and more to our green lidded organics bin. On average Wollongong households are FOGO-ing 1.8kg of organic waste each week, but there are still more opportunities to improve.

“A little FOGO waste goes a long way and Council is encouraging households to make sure green-lidded bins are put out for collection each week, no matter how full. All the small quantities of waste that we collect from the households in Wollongong, add up to be a significant saving from landfill,” he said.

“I ask everyone to keep putting their green-lidded bins out each week with their FOGO waste, regardless of how full they are. The more we can encourage everyone in our community and get behind FOGO, and make small positive changes to their waste behaviour, the better outcomes we will have our environment.

To find out more about FOGO – including details of what does and doesn’t go in your caddy – visit the Wollongong Waste website.

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