Your top 5 FOGO questions answered

Published Date
20/01/2021
News Topic
Sustainability & Environment
FOGO FAQ


NOTE: This news article was accurate at the time it was posted. Visit FOGO to see the latest information.


The rollout of new red, yellow and green lid bins has started and many of you have sent questions through to Council. We've gathered your top 5 questions and answered them and pulled together a list of other frequently asked questions about FOGO too.

Why am I getting new bins? What’s wrong with the current ones?

As part of the new Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) service, all residents will receive a new green lid FOGO bin and kitchen caddy to collect their food scraps. These will arrive at the end of February, just before the FOGO service starts in March 2021.

As well as these new bins for the FOGO service, residents will also receive new red and yellow lid bins. The new bins will have updated illustrations on the lids, letting you know what can go in each bin.

If you live in a house, your new red rubbish bin will be a lot bigger than your current one and as such will need to be replaced.

In addition, many bins are old, damaged or broken. Providing new bins is a more cost effective option in the long run compared with partial ongoing replacement. Your old bins will be recycled into new bins for other council areas.

What will this cost?

There is no extra cost for this service, it’s all part of your existing annual domestic waste management charge.

Why are we introducing FOGO?

We want to divert the amount of waste that we’re sending to landfill.

So why now? For the past  eight years, we’ve been sending your waste to an alternative treatment facility where much of the organic food matter was extracted and used for agricultural purposes. This meant we could significantly reduce what was being sent to landfill.

However, the EPA put a permanent stop to that in 2019 because of concerns about contamination in the organic products being generated. So unfortunately, the contents of your red rubbish bin all goes to landfill.

This means it costs us more to dispose of your waste, it costs you more in your Domestic Waste Management Charge and it costs the environment dearly.

With the average rubbish bin in Australia containing about 40% food and organic waste, councils across Australia have been looking for better ways.

Eighty councils in Australia are already doing FOGO. And more in Sydney are looking at coming onboard too. It’s not new technology, it’s just going to take some adjustment for everyone.

Will there be a change to collection days or frequency?

Firstly, there’s no changes happening to your bin collection until 1 March 2021. Until then, please keep doing what you’ve always been doing.

In February 2021, you’ll get a welcome kit with your new FOGO bin and a calendar that will clearly explain your collection days and frequency.

If you live in a strata apartment, there’s not going to be a big change to your collections. Your red rubbish bin and green FOGO bins will be collected WEEKLY and your yellow recycling bin FORTNIGHTLY.

If you live in a freestanding house, there will be more of a change. The collection frequencies of your green and red bins will be switched. Your green FOGO bin will be collected WEEKLY and your red rubbish and yellow recycling bins FORTNIGHTLY.

As your red rubbish bin will no longer contain any recyclable material, or smelly food waste, it will have less content. Also for houses, your new red bin will now be a lot bigger, so most households will manage fine with a fortnightly collection.

Your green FOGO bin will be collected weekly. This bin can take all organic matter. Garden clippings, branches, leaves and food including meat, dairy, bones, citrus, kitty litter and animal poo.

How do I best dispose of nappies?

Disposing of nappies is a real issue and it’s something we’ve considered carefully as part of the service changes.

The average child will go through about 6,000 nappies before they’re toilet trained. That’s a lot of nappies going to landfill.

Unfortunately, nappies have to go into the red bin and to landfill. If you’re in a house, they’ll be collected fortnightly, and apartments weekly.

Trials in other council areas found that a bin containing nappies didn’t smell any worse after two weeks than it did after one week.

Plus, there’s things you can do to minimise odours – check our website FAQ for all the details.

It may not be convenient for some people, but nowadays reusable and cloth nappies are much more user-friendly.  Even a partial switch to modern cloth nappies can make a huge difference to how much you contribute to landfill.

Any other questions?

If you have more questions please check this page for answers to FAQs.

If you need FOGO resources in different languages, you can find them on this page.

Do you have any other questions that we haven't answered? Email us at FOGO@randwick.nsw.gov.au.

Your Top 5 Questions about the New Bins answered by Mayor Danny Said

Last Updated: 20 June 2023
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