New four bin system rolling out

Published on 03 February 2020

Council’s new four bin system, which includes a full food organics garden organics (FOGO) service and glass-only bin service, starts today.

More than 14,000 customers are part of the first stage of the full FOGO service. These residents have been supplied with a kitchen caddy, compostable caddy liners and a guide on how to use the service. Garden bins (lime green lid), now known as FOGO bins, have been supplied to customers who did not already have one.

The FOGO service will be rolled out all of Council’s 20,000 kerbside collection customers over the next five years. FOGO allows residents to place all food waste, including meat and bones, into garden bins. Collection of FOGO bins will be weekly, with collection of rubbish/general waste bins moving to fortnightly for households with the FOGO service

It’s estimated about a third of the contents of the average household rubbish bin in Macedon Ranges Shire is food waste. A FOGO collection coupled with a recycling service has been proven to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill, producing greenhouse gas emissions.

The four bins in the new kerbside collection service are:

All kerbside collection customers in the shire are being supplied with a glass-only bin (purple lid), which will be collected every four weeks. These bins are still being delivered, and all residents are expected to have received their new glass-only bin by 20 February.

Bin collection days have changed for many customers due to the implementation of the new services. Customers should refer to the information pack they have received in the mail, which included a new waste collection calendar and a waste and recycling guide. Both have magnets on the back and can be kept on your kitchen fridge for easy reference.