Food waste collection to slash landfill load

Household waste bound for landfill will be halved under a new food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection service starting across the City of Hobart next month. Hobart City residents will be the first in southern Tasmania to receive the kerbside service, which is expected to divert up to 3200 tons of food waste from landfill annually.

Food waste makes up more than half of household general waste, with the average household contributing more than 200 kilograms of food to landfill each year. “The introduction of a FOGO collection is a major milestone achieved in war on waste and their goal achieve zero waste to landfill by 2030,” Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said.

The FOGO service will collect food waste and other organic materials for composting, removing these items from landfill and providing a direct benefit to our environment. Under the new service, food waste and other items such as compostable packaging, paper towels and tissues, coffee grounds and pet hair can be placed in the existing green-lid bin that accepts garden clippings. Even pet poo and organic kitty litter can be given the FOGO treatment.

Organic materials collected from FOGO bins will be delivered to an organics treatment facility, where it will be transformed into quality compost that meets Australian standards. To make it easier to collect food waste for composting, small kitchen caddies will soon be delivered to all Hobart properties that have a green waste bin.

“When you receive your kitchen caddy, pop it somewhere handy and put your food scraps in as you go,” Cr Reynolds said. “But it’s important not to use a plastic bin liner. Either put them in loose or uses a compostable liner, such as newspaper or certified compostable bags.”

For more information on the upcoming FOGO service, visit
hobartcity.com.au/FOGO.