South-west councils report no issues with FOGO system

The introduction of Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) waste collection has been put on hold in many Melbourne suburbs due to processing facilities being at capacity, The Age recently reported.

Melbourne councils with the service reported not enough people were buying the resulting compost.

In the south-west, the compost is used to rehabilitate local landfill sites with Moyne, Corangamite and Warrnambool councils reporting no issues.

Moyne and Corangamite Shires have collected organic waste for several years with Warrnambool jumping on board in 2018 following a successful pilot.

Before the introduction of FOGO, the average bin in Warrnambool contained 40 per cent organic material, which when sent to landfill didn't compost, instead breaking down without air and releasing harmful greenhouse gases.

The Warrnambool municipality has since diverted about 6000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill.

A council spokesman said the service was provided to more than 16,000 households.

He said the waste was transported to a commercial compost facility at Camperdown with "most" of the product used to rehabilitate old sections of landfill in accordance with government requirements.

In Corangamite, the waste is transferred to Corangamite Regional Landfill at Naroghid's County Boundary Road West.

There were 5461 FOGO kerbside collection customers 2020 and 2021.

In Moyne, FOGO collection is available to 6500 properties.

The council has provided green waste collection since 2001 but has actively encouraged sorting all food and organic waste since 2010.

Moyne Shire Council's director of infrastructure and environment Edith Farrell said council's waste contractor collected around 2400 tonnes of FOGO waste each year which is taken to a local plant for processing.

"Our contractor has not reported any issues with capacity at the processing site and FOGO collection is operating as normal across Moyne," she said.

When waste arrives at landfill sites, contaminant like plastic and glass have to be picked out by hand.

The waste is then shredded and mixed with other organic material which is aerated, watered and turned regularly.

During the process, the material heats up and is pasteurised.

Pasteurisation kills plants, seeds and germs making the finished compost safe to use.

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