FOGO bins

‘It doesn’t require a lot of effort’: Sydney council’s food recycling trial extended

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Our team have been promoting Food Composting Programs for multi-unit dwellings for such a long time, and are really excited to be working with local Sydney Councils, who are proving how easily it can be done!
This article was originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Pictured is our Kitchen Caddy customised specifically for the trials, and Australian Certified Compost-A-Pak® liners. This Kitchen Caddy has been made in part of Recycled Material (Milk Cartons, food containers etc)  collected in Council Roadside Recycling programs.

When Erin Clay moved into an apartment, the last thing she wanted to do was contribute to landfill by throwing food waste into the rubbish bin.

So Ms Clay, of Potts Point, was quick to join the City of Sydney’s kitchen recycling trial.

Erin Clay recycles her food scraps under a City of Sydney program. 
Erin Clay recycles her food scraps under a City of Sydney program. CREDIT:JACK CROSSING

“We’ve never really had compost solutions for inner-city living, so I think it’s good when you don’t have a backyard and can’t do it yourself,” she said.

She was familiar with the trial, having initially joined while living in a share house.

The city’s food scraps recycling initiative would be expanded to more than 21,000 households this year, a City of Sydney spokesperson said.

The council provides a small kitchen caddy, a supply of compostable caddy liners and a food scraps bin to residents.

Lord mayor Clover Moore said: “An average Australian family throws out an astonishing $3500 or more worth of food every year, amounting to about one tonne of food waste.

“With approximately 8 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions generated by waste, it is vital that we divert as much waste from landfill as possible.”

While other Sydney councils have a combined food and garden organics waste service, the City of Sydney said this option was unworkable given the city’s large proportion of apartment dwellers. In 2021, the council will be assessing more permanent food organics recycling solutions.

“Preliminary results indicate the trial is on track to success, with good recovery and participation rates, low bin contamination, high customer satisfaction, and delivery of multiple environmental benefits,” the council said.

In Woollahra Council, residents can get a free kitchen caddy and caddy liners. “Our residents can create compost simply by placing their scraps into their green-lid bin,” a council spokesperson said.

Woollahra operates under the Food Organics and Garden Organics system facilitated by the NSW Environment Protection Authority. It allows for the disposal of food and garden organics in a combined system that converts food waste to compost and fertilisers.

Penrith City Council has been part of the program for 10 years and Randwick will join in 2021.

 

“It doesn’t require a lot of effort, but you’re still doing something good for the environment,” Ms Clay said.

Having experienced a more specific waste disposal system while living in Japan, Ms Clay believes it’s a matter of education just as much as an issue for councils.

“I think that Australians have a really limited knowledge of where things go … people put coffee cups in the recycling,” she said, calling for more education and accountability, as well as consistency across councils.

The City of Sydney continues to recruit apartment buildings for the food scraps trial.

FOGO

81,110 FOGO Deliveries with only 78 Community Enquires

Our team recently hit the steep hills of Wollongong, working in partnership with the fabulous team from Remondis to deliver new FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) kits to the residents of Wollongong.  Whilst it was a great way to get fit before Christmas, there were also some interesting learnings.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM visiting our distribution facility

Wollongong’s FOGO roll out commenced in November 2020 with a strong community communication strategy outlining the benefits of the program.

In this region alone, the team expect to divert a staggering 6,000 tonnes of food waste from their landfill site at Whytes Gully each year. In results similar to other Australian communities, the Wollongong team had found that residents were filling up to 40% of their red general waste bins with food scraps, which equates to approx. 150kg of food waste per household annually. The environmental and financial benefits of implementing a FOGO Program as quickly as possible were compelling, particularly in the context of rising Landfill costs.

During the rollout, each registered property received a FOGO kit comprising of a roll of Compost-A-Pak liners, Education Pack and a Source Separation Systems Kitchen Caddy. This Kitchen Caddy was made in Australian in a customised colour with the base and handle made of Post Consumer Recycled content. The recycled content for this production run was sourced from material originally deposited in council roadside collection bins in Melbourne. As a result, by simply choosing this solution, and so using Post-Consumer recycled content, the council contributed to Australia’s emerging circular economy which is imperative for an effective recycling industry in Australia.

Customised Wollongong Kitchen Caddy

After initial trials, the caddy was designed with simple and effective symbol-based imagery within the in-mould label, providing a permanent reminder for resident of the items accepted through the FOGO program. This was also reinforced across the other communication channels.

As Christmas loomed, the team set a very ambitious program to have the full distribution of 81,110 FOGO Kits in place within four weeks. Leveraging our unique distribution software in which many of the complexities of distribution are managed proactively in our preparation phase, the Source Separation Systems team successfully visited over 4,000 households on average everyday and met the timeframe. Which such large numbers, the risk of gaps and duplications obviously increase, however with our unique software, this risk is effectively mitigated. This is most powerfully reflected in the number of enquiries received into the council team, with only 78 Community Enquiries lodged during the distributing. That’s a call rate of  0.009%, which for anyone familiar with delivery logistics is quite remarkable!

As a result of the successful distribution the new program was effectively up and running in time for the Christmas period in which food waste tends to peak. As Wollongong City Acting Lord Mayor Councillor Tania Brown explained to local media ahead of the program, this type of FOGO strategy is really a win-win for the environment and residents.

“The big problem is that food waste in a landfill decomposes and creates the greenhouse gas methane. Diverting food scraps is a win-win as it reduces the amount of waste going to landfill, saving valuable landfill space and reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into our atmosphere,” Cr Brown said

To find out more about our custom products, distribution program and how we can have you up and running for FOGO, simply contact us on 02 4954 3023. 0249543023