Let's get ready to FOGO

As a general rule, any waste that comes from a plant or animal can go in your FOGO bin. All food scraps including raw or cooked bones, eggshells, citrus, dairy products, rice, pasta, coffee grounds, tea bags, unfinished meals plus out of date food removed from its packaging.

You can put food and organic garden waste in your FOGO bin. Food waste includes vegetable peelings, fruit, cooked food, leftovers, meat and bones, seafood waste, dairy and citrus. Together with your food waste, your garden organics such as lawn clippings, weeds, vegie patch waste and small branches can also be added to the bin.

Our A-Z guide of what can go into your FOGO bin will be in the information kit when the bin is delivered and on Council’s website.

PLEASE DO NOT put any plastics or biodegradable plastics, plastic bags, cling wrap, glass, tins and cans, foil, Tetrapaks, nappies, treated timber, gravel, rocks or building material into your FOGO bin.

Fireplace ash, road kill, pet waste and dead animals are also not suitable - these can go in your general waste bin.

Separate food waste from containers so only food waste goes in FOGO. If the container is recyclable, then give it a rinse and it can go into the yellow/recycling bin.

Our A-Z guide of what can go into your FOGO bin will be in the information kit when the bin is delivered and on Council’s website.

It’s no lie that waste will smell at times, just like your general waste bin may do now. Below are tips that you can use to reduce this:

• Keep your bin in the shade if possible and always keep the lid shut
• Layer your food waste with garden waste such as lawn clippings and leaf litter or cardboard/waste paper
• Rinse you bin out regularly and let it dry completely
• Freeze fish and meat waste, and put in your FOGO bin the morning of collection
• Use a sprinkling of bicarbonate soda to deodorise your bin or caddy
• Offer a helping hand to anyone in the community, such as an elderly neighbour, who may struggle to implement this  

The cost of introducing FOGO will be minimised with:

• Changing to a fortnightly kerbside collection;
• Reduced processing costs compared to landfill; and
• No state levy applicable to the material in the FOGO bin.

The FOGO process provides a more cost effective service than landfill, which in turn lowers costs for rate payers in the community. It also provides an opportunity to assess how much waste we produce and where we can reduce this by changing our buying habits.

Council’s initial modelling indicates there will be no additional costs to households for the introduction of this service.

All residents that receive normal waste collection post FOGO implementation will receive FOGO, recycling and Waste services.

The FOGO bin, alongside landfill and recycling bins, will be collected fortnightly.  

Your local schedule will be available in July 2025. 

The fortnightly collection schedule helps keep costs down which means no increased collection fees for ratepayers.

The fortnightly collection schedule has proven successful in Councils across Tasmania already providing FOGO given the cooler generally temperate climate, compared to the mainland.  Residents of Central Coast have fortnightly FOGO collection and Latrobe Councils have fortnightly waste collections without any significant issues.

We understand that a shift to fortnightly waste collection can feel like a big change for some, so we have a few supports in place to help everyone manage.

• Using the right bin for the type of waste will help balance your load.  We aren't changing your waste bin size so you need to use the extra space in the new bin for food and garden organics so you have room for 2 weeks of waste in your general waste bin
• Take any additional materials to the Waste Transfer Station if you need to from time to time
• Request an additional bin from Council, for an additional cost if you consistently find you don’t have enough space in any bin
• Talk to your neighbours about share bin space, if you both agree

The new 240L FOGO bin complements the general waste and recycling bins by allowing for more effective handling of household waste, diverting organic material away from landfill. Your new bin suite will be:

• General waste - Red lidded bin
• Recyclable items - Yellow lidded bin
• Food organics and garden organics products - Green lidded bin

To reduce the risk of contamination, please do not use any bin liner in your FOGO bin. Simply put your scraps loose into any container of your choosing, to then be carried to, and emptied into, the FOGO bin. Alternatively you can also:

• Use a piece of paper towel to line the kitchen organic waste container.
• Fold a piece of newspaper into a purpose made liner. Instructions for folding a newspaper liner.
• Place newspaper or cardboard on the bottom of the bin itself as an easy way to limit any mess and stop clippings and waste sticking to the bottom.

While there are many bin liners marketed as “compostable”, these don't all break down the same way and may contaminate the compost with microplastics.

Great! You will find the FOGO service complements your system because you will be able to process larger quantities of garden organics and ‘harder to compost items’ such as: dairy, meat, bones, bread, grains, citrus and kitchen oils. 

We have chosen not to provide caddies to simplify the service, reduce cost to households and provide a choice in what works for you. This limits the resources needed to operate the service. 

You can use any container to collect and carry your food scraps/organic material to the FOGO bin. This can include:

• Plastic containers such as tupperware or used ice-cream tub
• Bucket or similar container that works
• Purpose made kitchen caddies - available from the hardware store, if you are looking for something new.

We have chosen not to provide caddies to simplify the service, reduce cost to households and provide you choice in what works for you. Depending on how often you empty the container and where you keep it in the kitchen, you may want something with a tight fitting lid.

Yes, provided the application is made by the property owner you can have multiple bins with a further service charge applying to each bin. Applications need to be made in writing to burnie@burnie.tas.gov.au

Nappy, animal and medical waste remain in the general waste bin. Under health and safety considerations, we are unable to process these items.

The organic material is collected as part of the North West Resource Recovery and Recycling (NWRRR) service and transferred to the Dulverton Waste Management composting facility. At the facility it is composted to Australian Standard AS 4454 from composts, soil conditioners and mulches.

The finished compost material is used by nurseries and farms to build soil health and produce more food – closing the loop from table to paddock and back to the plate.

A snapshot of what happens at the FOGO processing facility will be included in the information pack with your new bin.

The organic compost that starts in your kitchen, and ends up in your garden, can be purchased at the Dulverton Waste Management Centre 

In short, minimal risks arise if done correctly.

EPA SA reported that landfills have a harsh impact on the environment and human health due to landfill gas, odour, litter, vermin, dust and leachate. By diverting waste to FOGO, we are reducing the need to create future landfills for a growing population.

It is the community's responsibility to follow FOGO instructions to ensure the correct items are put into FOGO bins to ensure no contamination occurs. Equally important, maintaining a clean bin and personal hygiene such as washing hands after handling your waste or the bin is simple to avoid the risk.

Once the bins are picked up, tests will be performed at every stage of the composting process to ensure contaminants aren’t found in the final product. 

At this stage we are focused on rolling the service out to households but Dulverton are keen to work with Councils and food service businesses as soon as possible.

Please register your interest as admin@dulverton.com.au using the subject line “Commercial FOGO Interest”.

Any questions, comments or concerns about the service contact Dulverton Waste Management by email hello@nwrrr.com.au or call (03) 6427 4646

Unfortunately, you cannot if you live within the designated service area, as this service is going to be delivered to 38,000 households across the North West of Tasmania. 

Like recycling, collecting and processing the organic waste costs more than the return received for the finished product.  Consequently the cost is borne by the Councils as a gate fee and the sales of the compost made reduces the processing cost of the gate fee. 

Furthermore, as Dulverton is owned by four of the local councils, profits return to the community in the form of tax equivalents (that DWM pays Owner Councils as if they were the ATO) and dividends.

FOGO is one simple thing you can do with your waste that will make a big difference for the environment. However, reducing food waste in the first place is crucial. A lot of energy, water, financial and natural resources go into the production of the food we buy and what we waste. Reducing your food waste in the first place will not only help the environment but also save you money. Here are more ways to reduce food waste:

• Make a list - Check your fridge and pantry supplies, make a list before shopping and stick to it.
• Manage your supplies - check use by dates to ensure you don’t let food spoil simply by being overlooked
• Plan ahead - Plan meals and what to do with leftovers - like turning it into tomorrow's lunch or freezing it to use later on.
• Check out resources online for ideas on how to get the most from food in season and save money while eating it at its freshest. There are many websites that can provide tips to get better value and reduce food waste.  Google “avoid food waste” and browse on.