The ACT Government’s Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin collection service has begun in Belconnen.
Last month, the ACT Government announced that a $4 million pilot of FOGO waste recycling collection services would start in the Belconnen Town Centre, Bruce, Cook, and Macquarie.
“Four Belconnen suburbs are leading the way for the rest of Canberra in removing food scraps from landfill,” said Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services.
By turning household scraps, and food and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost, Mr Steel said, the scheme reduces methane gas generated from landfill.
FOGO will be rolled out across Canberra in 2023; it could lower the city’s waste emissions by up to 30 per cent.
Households can put food scraps (including meat and bones) into a use kitchen caddy and bin liners (provided for free). 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 will be collected fortnightly. This is how most FOGO services operate across Australia.
The pilot also includes apartment buildings to ensure residents who can’t compost in their backyards can take part.
All participating households in the pilot will have now received educational material, an updated collection calendar, their kitchen caddy, 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 on how a FOGO collection service can be successfully implemented across individual households and medium and large apartment buildings.
“This will inform the future roll-out of citywide FOGO services,” Mr Steel said.
What goes in a FOGO bin?
- Leftovers and cooked food
- Yoghurt, 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.
