FOGO is Food Organics Garden Organics. As a trial participant you are able to continue to place food scraps into your existing green lid bin with your garden waste for it to be recycled into compost.

Currently almost half of the waste found in our average red lid garbage bin is food waste. When food waste breaks down in landfill it creates methane, a greenhouse gas which is 23 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Removing food waste from residential garbage bins in Burwood will help us move towards achieving our climate targets of net zero emissions by 2030 and net zero community emissions by 2050.

The FOGO service is one of the simplest ways we can all reduce carbon emissions and achieve the NSW goal of halving the amount of organic waste that is sent to landfill by 2030. Helping to save on landfill space.

Food and garden waste accounts for almost half of the waste found in the average red lid garbage bin in Burwood. This material takes up limited landfill space and creates harmful greenhouse gases when it breaks down. The FOGO service will divert waste from landfill and instead create compost.

The initial FOGO trial indicated that 35% of accepted food waste was still reaching landfill – we know you can do better!

Let's aim to send that 35% into the FOGO bin and be converted into compost.

The FOGO material collected from the trial extension area households is sent to Veolia Clyde transfer station and from there transferred to the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct, just outside of Goulburn, where it is transformed into compost. The compost is than used to rehabilitate an old mine site at the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct.

Your existing bright green lid bin is your FOGO bin.

No, your bins will continue to be collected on Wednesday - the same day they have been.

Removing waste from the red lid bin is one of the easiest changes we can make to start reducing our waste to landfill.

The cost of disposing waste to landfill is increasing annually, so we need to rethink how we manage our waste. Almost a half of the red lid bin in the Burwood Council area is food organic waste.

FOGO is also a NSW wide initiative (NSW Government Waste Strategy 2041) with all households within NSW to have a FOGO collection service by 2030, this includes changing the frequency of the red lid bin to a fortnightly collection to acheive these State wide diversion rates.

Council recommends disposing of as much of the nappy contents as you can into the toilet:

- wrap the nappy tightly into itself and use the tabs to secure. Put the wrapped nappy into a biodegradable/compostable bag and tie the bag prior to placing in your red lid bin

- store your red lid bin in the shade

- make sure the lid can close properly and the bin ahs no cracks or splits

- using scented nappy bags and odour neutralisers such as bi-carb soda in your bin can help minimse smells

Although not encourgaed, you can request to upgrade your standard size 120L red lid bin to a larger 240L red lid bin.

Council staff will work with you to determine an appropriate solution for your household's waste needs.

All trial households received a free kitchen caddy and a roll of compostable liners delivered to their door just prior to the initial trial commencement, to make the collection of food scraps easy and convenient.

The kitchen caddy is to be placed in a convenient location somewhere in the kitchen. This could be on the benchtop, under the sink or in the fridge if you have room.

The small lime green bags/liners help you store and carry your FOGO material out to your green lid FOGO bin.

These liners are compostable, Australian certified, made from vegetable material and are completely plastic free. These liners completely break down in the composting process.

Only these small lime green compostable liners with the certified symbol AS 4736 are able to be placed in your FOGO bin.

No, you can use any container to collect your scraps and take these to your green lid FOGO bin.

You can collect food scraps into your green lid bin loose or wrapped in newspaper.

Please note - you cannot use plastic or biodegradable bags, only the lime green compostable liners with the certified symbol AS 4736 are able to be placed into your green lid FOGO bin.

1. place one of the supplied green compostable liners inside your kitchen caddy

2. keep your kitchen caddy somewhere handy in your kitchen

3. place all food scraps from meal preparation, plate scrapings and expired foods into your caddy (make sure it's unwrapped first!)

4. when the liner is full, tie it and place it into your green lid FOGO bin, along with your garden waste.

5. put your green lid bin out for collection weekly during the trial.