Released 22/11/2021
The ACT Government's Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin collection service has now commenced in selected Belconnen suburbs.
“The ACT FOGO pilot has begun, with four Belconnen suburbs leading the way for the rest of Canberra in removing food scraps from landfill,” said Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel.
“FOGO will help Canberrans to take everyday action on climate change by turning food and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost, thereby reducing methane gas being generated from our landfill. Once implemented city-wide, this has the potential to reduce waste emissions by up to 30 per cent.
“We know there is strong interest in FOGO collection services, with 93 per cent of Canberrans surveyed indicating their support. The pilot in Belconnen, Bruce, Cook and Macquarie is the first step in our planning to deliver FOGO collection services across Canberra.”
Through the service, participating households can put food scraps into an easy-to-use kitchen caddy and bin liners, which have been provided free of charge. The food scraps can then be emptied into their lime-green lidded FOGO bin, along with garden waste.
FOGO bins are collected every week and rubbish bins are moving to fortnightly collection. This is how most FOGO services operate across Australia.
Households using the FOGO service can compost all food scraps, including some items that would not usually go into the household compost, like meat and bones, along with garden waste. The pilot also includes some apartment buildings in the pilot suburbs.
All participating households in the pilot will have now received educational material, an updated collection calendar, their new kitchen caddy, supply of certified compostable liners and a FOGO bin - if they didn’t already have a lime-green lidded bin.
The pilot will provide data on contamination rates and how a FOGO collection service can be successfully implemented across both individual households - and medium and large apartment buildings. This will inform the future roll-out of citywide FOGO services.
What goes in a FOGO bin?
- Leftovers and cooked food
- Yogurt, cheese and eggs
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Meat/fish scraps and bones
- Bread, grains and cereals
- Certified compostable liners
- Grass clippings
- Pruning, cuttings, trimmings
- Twigs and sticks
- Palm fronds
- Weeds
What doesn’t go in a FOGO bin?
- Plastic bags
- Tea bags
- Animal droppings
- Cat litter
- Hair
- Paper
- Tissues and paper towel
- Oyster shells
- Plastic products
- Sanitary products
- Treated timber
- Metals
- Glass
- Textiles and old clothes
And remember - If in doubt, leave it out.
For more information on the FOGO pilot, visit: www.act.gov.au/fogo.
For photos and vision of the FOGO truck making bin collections, visit the following page.
- Statement ends -
Chris Steel, MLA | Media Releases