Why has Council decided to introduce Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection and a FOGO Charge?

Food and garden waste makes up around 46 per cent of the waste our households send to landfill, and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is approximately 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Recycling our FOGO materials is an important step in helping our environment. FOGO materials collected through our new recycling service are turned into nutrient rich soil conditioner which is used to rehabilitate land throughout Victoria.

Currently, single-unit dwellings have access to FOGO kerbside collection, and from mid-2023, this service will begin to be rolled out to multi-unit dwellings and communal hubs.

You can find out more about our FOGO collection here

Why is the Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) Charge for single-unit dwellings and multi-unit dwellings different?

To reflect the different levels of service and cost between single-unit and multi-unit dwellings, we propose to fund this service for multi-unit dwellings from the default waste charge. This means we would not introduce a separate charge for FOGO collection for multi-unit dwellings. For single-unit dwellings, who receive kerbside FOGO collection, we propose to keep the FOGO collection charge, but reduce it to $66.00.

Can I opt out of my FOGO bin and not pay the FOGO Charge?

A Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) kerbside collection service is currently provided to all eligible single-unit dwellings. It is possible for owners of single-unit dwellings to apply to opt-out of this service, however there are only two criteria in which an application can be considered:

• If there is no space at the front or rear of your property to store an additional bin.
• If you have alternative methods of repurposing all food and garden organics at your property. Only compost systems that are able to accept food items including meat, dairy, citrus, expired products and garden organics will be considered to opt out.

We strongly encourage everyone to use the FOGO service, to help work towards minimising the amount of waste sent to landfill, minimising our methane output and helping our environment.

Why is garbage collection changing from weekly to fortnightly, and when is this happening?

Kerbside garbage collection is shifting from a weekly collection to a fortnightly collection in January/February 2024 for properties that have a kerbside FOGO service. This includes single-unit dwellings that received their FOGO bin at the start of 2023 and multi-unit dwellings that will be included in the service from mid-2023.

We are changing our garbage collection services to increase the amount of waste we divert from landfill and reduce our impact on the environment. The percentage of food and garden waste we produce in our garbage stream lies at around 46 per cent. We are aiming to maximise landfill diversion by encouraging residents to use their kerbside FOGO service for all household food and garden waste.

We understand that there may be some confusion in the beginning, therefore residents will be provided a fridge magnet collection calendar to help remember the collection days, and the frequency of services. We also understand that some households may struggle with a fortnightly garbage service so households can request a free bin upsize if they meet the following criteria: six or more people residing in one house, children in nappies, or a person with a medical condition which results in additional waste.

The ‘Don’t Waste It!’ Waste Management Strategy 2022-25 stated that the change to fortnightly garbage was going to occur in mid-2023 for single-unit dwellings that received a kerbside FOGO service in January 2023. However, it has been delayed to allow Council to transition both single-unit dwellings and multi-unit dwellings to fortnightly garbage at the same time, and ensure residents have sufficient time to prepare for the transition.

I’d like to know more about the changes to waste charges to car park spaces.

Across the municipality there are approximately 5,000 separately titled car parks, garages and storage spaces. This excludes the commercial car parks purely for trading such as Care or Wilsons Carparks. While being separately titled, they are often packaged with other properties therefore the following rebates exist:

1. Residential One Occupancy waste rebate - 100% Rebate of Default Waste Charge

Owners of these properties are already paying a waste charge on their residential property and do not create additional waste by this separate titled property (car space, storage unit etc).

The current principle is that they shouldn't have to pay multiple default waste charge where resides.

2. Commercial One Occupancy waste rebate - 90% Rebate of Default Waste Charge

Owners of these properties are already paying a waste charge so should not pay the waste charge twice.

But they do not receive a full rebate because commercial properties are likely to increase incidental waste generation from their activities. They also have access to cardboard collection and communal FOGO hubs.

3. Carparks/Storage areas with no affiliation with another ratepaying property receive no rebate and must pay the full default waste change.

Why is there an increase of $22.00 in the default waste charge?

This cost increase of $22.00 includes the State landfill levy increase of 8 per cent, inflation and the shared cost of FOGO collection across multi-unit dwellings and communal hubs.