Go go go on FOGO

As of this morning, the first of Wollongong City Council’s FOGO caddies reached the doorsteps of Wollongong residents.

The FOGO caddies play an integral role in the collection of household food waste that is able to be placed in green-lidded organics bins as part of Council’s new Food Organics Garden Organics service.

Inside each caddy we’re providing a how-to guide, compostable bin liners and a sticker to go on the green-lidded organics bin to remind you what can and can’t be composted.

The first suburbs to receive their caddies will be in the southern areas of Wollongong, with households over the entire Wollongong region to get their caddies during over the next six weeks of the roll out.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said FOGO was an excellent solution to reduce the amount of household food scraps that go into general waste.

“By diverting all food waste from your red-lidded general waste bin to the green-lidded organics bin, there will be a significant reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill. This not only reduces the cost of waste disposal, but also reduces the amount of greenhouse gas that our community generates.

Once you receive your kitchen caddy, you’ll be able to start diverting your food waste from your red-lidded general waste bin to your green-lidded organics bin.

“Once you have your caddy you are ready to get FOGO-ing! But we are asking our community to be patient, and only begin putting food waste into their green-lidded organics once their caddy has arrived. This is essential as FOGO waste is processed differently to general garden waste.” said Cr Bradbery.

The introduction of FOGO is expected to divert 6000 tonnes of food waste from our landfill site at Whytes Gully each year. Wollongong residents currently fill up to 40% of their red general waste bins with food scraps. This equates to around 150kg of food waste per household going straight to landfill each year.

FOGO is different to compost in that you can include all food waste, including raw or cooked meat, bones, fish, bread, cheese and other dairy items and out of date food.

Follow and like Council’s Facebook page to stay up to date with the latest FOGO information.

Visit the Wollongong Waste website for handy FOGO hints and tips, or call Council’s Customer Service team for more information on (02) 4227 7111.