Published on Wednesday, 22 May 2019 at 12:49:46 PM
Council is considering conducting a small-scale trial of the kerbside collection of Food Organic and Garden Organic (FOGO) waste as part of its 2019/20 Budget deliberations.
The trial would involve providing 500 randomly selected houses across City suburbs with a second bin for FOGO waste over a 12 month period.
City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the trial, if supported by Council at the Ordinary Meeting on 28 May 2019, will be a fact finding mission to determine the true cost of eventually providing a second FOGO bin for every household in the City.
“All Council initiatives come at a cost,” he said.
“Should Council agree to implement the trial, the results will provide the City with a strong indication of what the true cost of collecting FOGO waste City wide would be.”
The FOGO trial would also assess community take-up of the program, the type of education required to inform the community about FOGO waste separation, assessing and reporting on contamination levels in the FOGO bin and determining the marketability of the end product, compost.
The trial is the first step the City could take towards meeting Western Australia State Strategy waste recovery target set to increase Municipal Solid Waste material recovery by 50% in major regional centres by 2020.
“By collecting up to the 48% of FOGO material in our current waste stream and creating an end product that is marketable such as quality compost, there is potential to recover some of the costs involved with the introduction of a second bin,” Mayor Van Styn said.
FOGO is considered any food waste including fruit and vegetable scraps, processed food and leftovers from meals such as meat, fish, chicken, bread, egg, egg shells, dairy products, rice, pasta, coffee grounds and tea bags. Garden waste can include grass clippings, flowers, weeds, herbs, small branches and leaves. Paper towel, compostable plates, compostable bags and pizza boxes.
Currently, the City diverts 15-20% of waste through City drop off recycling programs and there are numerous other recycling options around the City for people to use.
More information on recycling in the City here
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