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Changes to what can be placed in your FOGO waste bin

EVER wondered what happens to your FOGO waste once it leaves your kerb?

Wollongong City Council are taking residents on a video tour (see below) of how they collect, sort, and convert your food scraps and lawn clippings into compost material.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said that while residents are great at ‘FOGO-ing’, there’s still room for improvement.

“Earlier this year in our kerbside bin audit, we discovered that approximately 30 per cent of waste in red bins is made up of food waste. We see this as an incredible opportunity for our residents to divert more food waste out of landfill,” Cr Bradbery said.

“One of the common myths we’re trying to bust, is that if you only have a little bit of food waste it doesn’t matter if you use the red bin. I can tell you that even a small amount of FOGO counts.

“Research shows us that if everyone who lived in Wollongong made sure every little bit of food waste was put in the green-lidded bin, we’d save an additional 150kg of waste per household a year – or a total of 11,050 tonnes of food waste from going to landfill every year.

“We all have a role to play and it’s important we get this right. FOGO helps save space in our landfill, which is a limited resource, it also reduces methane gas emissions and reduces our city’s environmental footprint. We all can make a difference and I encourage everyone to take on the FOGO challenge today.”

See here for the full journey, from the kerbside to the final product!

The City of Wollongong has been using FOGO since its launch in 2020.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has made changes to what can and can’t go in FOGO bins.

Following the EPA’s release of their new FOGO guidelines, Council has responded by gradually phasing out educational materials that are out of date.

The biggest change for Wollongong residents is that Council and the EPA are saying no to cardboard and paper in FOGO. That means food should be removed from pizza boxes and they need to go in your yellow-lidded recycling bin along with takeaway packaging marketed as compostable or biodegradable.

All food waste, garden waste and compostable bin liners with the AS 4736 code and seedling logo are still accepted in FOGO.

“We’re lucky to have a very engaged community who are for the most part, doing the right thing and only putting food and garden organic waste in their green-lidded bins,” Cr Bradbery said.

“We have a very robust FOGO system in place here at Wollongong. We do our best to sort green bin waste before it’s composted so that we can remove any contaminants such as plastic or metal. Plastic bags are our biggest problem item in FOGO, but we also sometimes see building waste dumped in FOGO bins, which is not on.

“It’s a closed system. This means that your food scraps are repurposed and transformed into compost material. This compost then can be used on our city’s sports fields, parks, gardens and lots of other open spaces. Every little bit counts so please keep on FOGO-ing, and if you haven’t already, give FOGO a go.”

Not sure what can and can’t go in your bin? For more information, visit the Wollongong Waste website.

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About Mick Roberts

A journalist, writer and historian, Mick Roberts specialises in Australian cultural history, particularly associated with the Australian pubs. Mick has had an interest in revealing the colourful story of Australian hotels or pubs and associated industries for over 30 years. Besides writing a number of history books, Mick has managed several community newspapers. Now semi-retired, he has edited the Wollongong Northern News, The Bulli Times, The Northern Times, The Northern Leader and The Local - all located in the Wollongong region. As a journalist he has worked for Rural Press, Cumberland (News Limited), City Hub Sydney (City News), and Torch Publications (based in Canterbury Bankstown, Sydney).

Discussion

One thought on “Changes to what can be placed in your FOGO waste bin

  1. Well done ,only problem is being able to get more bags ,should be able to get them from Corrimal library as old people can’t get to Wollongong for more

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Pauline woods | August 31, 2023, 11:52 am

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YOU can support The Bulli & Clifton Times with a donation through PayPal. Your generous patronage of my work and research, however small it appears to you, will greatly help me with my continuing costs, and help support independent journalism and local news media. You can leave a small donation here of $2, or several small donations, just increase the amount as you like. Your support helps provide an independent and free source of local news and information.

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