Wollongong FOGO turns 2!

We’re celebrating two years of Wollongong’s Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) on Friday 9 December!

We’ve come a long way since first rolling out FOGO in 2020 and we’re really impressed with how our community has responded.

• There has been a 73% increase (from pre-FOGO) in the amount of material currently being diverted away from landfill and turned into compost.
• Since December 2020, we’ve collected 72,784 tonnes of FOGO waste. 9,600 tonnes of this total is food waste. The amount of food waste we’ve collected is the equivalent volume of 14 Olympic sized swimming pools, or the mass of 1600 male African elephants.
• Our contamination rate (how much non-FOGO waste is put in your green-lidded bins) continues to remain low at 0.94%. That’s a fantastic achievement as the National average is about 2%. On average, we’re doing better than the rest of Australia.
• We have room for improvement. We estimate that on average our residents are putting about 10,000 tonnes of food waste into their red-lidded bins every year. Diverting this out of landfill could go a long way to improving the lifespan of our Whytes Gully Landfill. *

Congratulations on your incredible effort! We couldn’t have done it with out you.

“Over the years we’ve learnt a lot about why it’s important to divert food waste from landfill. Our Whytes Gully landfill is a finite resource with only so much space. Taking food waste out of landfill and instead turning it into compost is a much better process for the environment and for our city’s long-term sustainability,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said

“It really has a two-fold benefit. It extends the life of our landfill site in terms of usage, and it reduces the gases that are harmful to the environment that would otherwise be created as the organic matter decomposes. Embracing FOGO has many benefits.

“Addressing food waste is a big part of the solution to mitigate methane emissions from landfill. Please be more circumspect in the purchase and consumption of food so we don’t waste as much. Save money and the planet by wasting less. Less food and organic waste in landfill means less methane. Everyone can do their bit to help the environment by using the FOGO bin to divert and recycle food waste.

“At this point in time, we’re estimating that our Whytes Gully Landfill has only another 50 years to go before it fills up. If we’re able to divert all of our city’ food and organic waste into the green-lidded bin, this could increase the life expectancy of our landfill by a further 10 years.”

Moving forward, Council’s focus for 2023 will be on continuing to receive A+ results for FOGO. We’ll also be looking at how we can better reach new residents and people living in multi-unit dwellings who may be unfamiliar with FOGO or have specific waste service requirements.

“You’ll hear a lot about FOGO in the new year as we continue to remind people on the dos and don’ts! We regularly have a FOGO Friday post on our Facebook page, if people are interested to stay up to date with the latest information and tips. We want to continue to see our community be a leader in this space when it comes to low contamination rates and high usage levels,” Cr Bradbery said.

“At the same time, we’re going to be looking at how we talk to people and communities who aren’t fully on board yet with FOGO. There’s a decreasing number of people who are ‘on the fence’ when it comes to FOGO, and we want to encourage them to become FOGO converts.”

We’re taking inspiration from our community who LOVE using FOGO. Here are some of the comments that our community shared on Facebook:

“Sprinkle some bicarb soda in the bin or spray the inside with white vinegar to keep smells at bay.” – A.M.

“Thank you, I love my FOGO bin & go thru 2 bags at least a week saving so much red bin use. I have been using since first released, love it.” – B.A.

“Still as good as new after two years. Used every day…” – J.K.

“I use mine all the time love it.” – G.K.

Visit our FOGO webpage for more information. You can also download the Wollongong Waste App for handy tips on what goes in your bin as well as bin collection reminders.

*Statistics as of December 2022.