Bayside is go for FOGO

Food scraps and leftovers from Bayside households will be recycled into compost via a new Food Organics/Garden Organics service, known as FOGO, from 1 July 2019.

The new service is a key action of the Recycling and Waste Strategy 2018-2027 adopted by Bayside City Council.

Key facts

Residents will be able to put their food scraps and leftovers in their garden waste bin from 1 July 2019 There will be no changes to the frequency of bin collections yet. The garden waste bin will continue to be collected fortnightly until existing collection contracts expire in 2022. At that time we will consider if a change in frequency is needed. Food waste makes up 50% of our domestic household waste. Food scraps and leftovers will be recycled into compost. Food waste produces damaging greenhouse gases as it breaks down in landfill. This will significantly reduce our environmental impact. Residents who don’t already have a garden waste bin will receive one for a one off charge of $100.20: the same price paid by residents who already have a garden waste bin

Bayside Mayor, Cr Laurence Evans said the changes to services outlined in the strategy respond to community concerns over the environmental impact of waste.

“We know our community wants Council to do more to protect the environment and take action on climate change at the local level. 

“Food waste makes up 50% of our domestic household waste and produces damaging greenhouse gases as it breaks down in landfill. By recycling it instead via fortnightly FOGO in the red lid garden waste bin, we can significantly reduce our environmental impact,” he said.

“We’ll be monitoring FOGO uptake and working with the community to educate and inform them on how they can best use the service. Once it is working well and food waste is going into the FOGO bin rather than the domestic waste bin, we will then consider switching our collection schedules to domestic waste fortnightly and FOGO weekly in the future.”

No change to bin collection schedules will be considered until after 2022 when current collection contracts expire.

Another key change is the use of alternative waste treatment facilities (where energy is created) rather than landfill to dispose of residual waste.  Bayside is joining with other local Councils to explore options for the adoption of this new technology.

The service changes outlined in the strategy were developed following extensive community consultation. Feedback from the community resulted in Council’s plan to offer optional kitchen caddies to households who want one to assist with transferring food waste from the kitchen to the FOGO bin.

No change is proposed to the hard waste collection service, however Council will investigate community appetite for moving to a user-pays hard waste service. Only 36% of Bayside households currently use the service which is subsidised by the general waste levy paid by all ratepayers.

Council is also calling for the state government to invest more heavily in the recycling industry to increase capacity to process recyclable materials domestically as part of our advocacy efforts in the lead up to the Victorian election.