FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics. It refers to the weekly collection of food scraps and garden organics. This material is then taken to a facility to be turned into compost.
Waste audits have revealed that approximately 56% of material in the general waste bins is organic. The introduction of a FOGO bin will divert organics from landfill where they can be composted.
The introduction of FOGO is supported by the State Government, Federal Government, and the City of Belmont. Western Australia’s Waste Strategy includes the goal of introducing a FOGO bin in every local government area in the Perth and Peel region by 2025.
'If it lives or grows, it's FOGO!'
Your
lime green lidded FOGO bin is for food scraps, garden waste, paper products and compostable liners provided by the Council. This includes:
- Bread and dairy
- Fruit and vegetables
- Meat, bones and seafood
- Pruning and leaves
- Paper towels, serviettes and tissues
Your
yellow lidded Recycling bin is for clean, empty recyclables with the lids removed. This includes:
- Glass bottles and jars
- Cardboard
- Plastic bottles and containers
- Steel and aluminium cans
Your
red lidded General Waste bin is for items that can't be recycled or composted. This includes:
- General rubbish items
- Hygiene products
- Nappies
- Plastic Bags
- Polystyrene and soft plastic
To find out which bin to put specific items in, head to the Recycle Right guides below:
Read the Recycle Right 3-bin Guide
Visit the Recycle Right Materials A-Z Guide
Download the free Recycle Right App
The food and garden waste (FOGO) you put in your kerbside bin is collected and taken to
North Bannister Resource Recovery Park for processing.
Upon arriving, the raw FOGO materials are shredded and placed into large piles so they can be screened and non-FOGO items manually removed. An automated Mobile Aerated Floor system then pumps air through the screened materials to help them break down.
After several weeks, the FOGO materials have become a nutrient-rich compost, which is then sent to an accredited laboratory and tested in accordance with Australian Standards.
The FOGO bin is collected weekly, and the recycling and general waste bins are collected fortnightly.
You will only be presenting two bins for collection each week. One week will be FOGO and recycling, and the other week will be FOGO and general waste.
You will a new bin collection schedule with your kitchen caddy to let you know which is recycling and which week is general waste.
Composting, worm farms and feeding scraps to chickens are all fantastic options for the environment and we encourage residents to continue to use these options.
Residents can still use their FOGO bin for organic materials not suitable for composting such as meat, seafood and excess gardening waste.
Contamination rate is the percentage of non-acceptable items that are present in the waste stream. For example, if 100 kg of FOGO waste is collected and 10 kg of the waste is non-FOGO items then the contamination rate is 10%.
When the contamination rate increases, the cost to process the waste increases and the quality of recovered material decreases.
Sorting your waste correctly is the key to keeping the contamination rate low, and waste processing costs down.
Keeping contamination rates low is key to the success of FOGO. When non-FOGO materials end up in your FOGO bin, it can pose several challenges:
- Contaminated FOGO waste is more expensive to process and requires more effort and time to remove the contamination.
- Plastic and glass is very difficult to remove during FOGO processing, and can run the risk of ending up in the end-product compost - reducing its quality and benefit.
- Materials like broken glass or hazardous household waste can pose a risk to workers at FOGO processing facilities.
Like all big changes, learning a new way to sort your waste can take time. That's why FOGO processing facilities have a robust process to manage contamination while still recovering the FOGO materials.