Published on Friday, 3 July 2020 at 10:13:18 AM
First quarter results of the Food Organic Garden Organic (FOGO) Trial show participants are embracing the City of Greater Geraldton’s waste reduction program.
Since the trail began on 2 March, nearly 53 tonnes of FOGO waste has been collected participant households located in ten City suburbs.
City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said even though the initial results were encouraging, more households need to start using their FOGO bin.
“Although it’s great to see more than half of the 500+ households participating in the trial, that number really needs to increase so we can understand the effectiveness of a two bin system and ensure that a full roll out of the two bin system is viable for our City,” he said.
“It’s also good to see that most of the households actively participating in the trial are correctly separating their FOGO waste from general rubbish and placing their FOGO bin on the verge for collection.
“Even though the contamination rate is currently 11%, we are certain the number of non-FOGO items being disposed of in the lime green lidded bins will decrease once the next stage in the project begins.”
Monitoring of FOGO bin content for contamination will begin in the coming weeks. Feedback about how well the household is using the bin or what could be improved upon, will be communicated to the households.
To assist communications with trial participants and encourage use of the FOGO bin the City has also launched the CGG FOGO Trial Facebook page for participating households to receive all the latest trial updates.
FOGO Trial participant Melissa Raffan said the information provided with the bins has made separating FOGO waste straight forward.
“The info graphics stickers on the side of the bin and on the kitchen caddy make it really easy to understand what can and can’t go into the bin. The caddy is well suited for the benchtop and makes it super convenient to sort food waste at the source,” she said.
“Our family loves using the FOGO bin as it minimises our household waste. It’s also been a great tool to teach our children about how we can do our bit to help the environment.”
Mayor Van Styn encouraged all households in the trail to actively participate so the broader community could reap the benefits.
“I encourage all households who haven’t begun separating their FOGO waste to do so as uncontaminated FOGO waste is being turned into compost for use in City parks and gardens,” he said.
PICTURE CAPTION: FOGO waste being turned into compost at the Meru Waste Facility.
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